Baby Tales
by BlueStar29
Summary: Cute short stories about Baby Yugi. Each chapter is one story, so there are multiple stories that make up one big ... fiction.
1. Rainy Nights

_I'm going to be up all night due to tornado stake out, so I thought I'd go ahead and start this new series of short stories about Baby Yugi. Each chapter is one story, so even though the story is finished, there will be other stories later on, all about Baby Yugi! So, goahead and enjoy this first one!_

---

**It began just like any other night. Little, nine-month-old, Yugi was playing with his blocks in front of the TV while his father, Atem was working on a cross-word puzzle and watching the news at the same time. Every once in a while, he'd sneak a peek over at Yugi, who would giggle when the blocks would fall. Of course, these blocks were made out of foam, so there was no real damage to either them or the small child playing with them. Yugi was dressed in a pair of sky-blue pajamas with feet; they buttoned up in the front. Atem smiled as Yugi giggled. Suddenly, the weather report came up.**

**"_And now time for your local weather. As you can see, we have a massive cold front moving in tonight, which will cause this area of low pressure here to form some strong to sever thunderstorms for our viewing area. Now take a look at this map and you can see that …"_**

**Atem was worried for his son. The boy hated thunderstorms with a strong passion; the loud sounds of the storm were too much for the little boy to handle. Hopefully, the child would be fast asleep by the time those storms got to their area. He sighed and put the cross-word puzzle book down. "Alright, Yugi; time to get ready for bed." Yugi looked at his father with huge amethyst eyes.**

**"No …" Atem chuckled and stood up.**

**"Yes, Yugi; you know that you're very cranky in the mornings when you don't get a full nine to ten hours of sleep, now let's go brush what little teeth you have." Atem picked Yugi up while saying this, almost tripping over the tower of blocks the child was playing with. He carried the tiny baby up the stairs and into the second floor bathroom.**

**In this bathroom, Atem took out a tiny toothbrush and put a small amount of bubble gum flavored toothpaste on it. "Open wide, Yugi." The small boy did as commanded. Atem inserted the brush into the child's mouth and gently began to brush the few teeth that his son had. Soon, Yugi started to foam at the mouth.**

**"Wiwuwoowawy." He said with a load of pink toothpaste dribbling down his chin. Atem chuckled and wiped the foam away.**

**"Rinse, spit, then speak." Yugi did as told once again. He spit the rest of the foam into the sink and took the sippy-cup from his father, scarfing down the water inside.**

**"I wy oo, D'da." Atem smiled and lifted Yugi off the counter and into the air, causing the small child to wave his arms and squeal in delight. He brought the baby down and kissed him several times on the cheek.**

**"I love you too, Little One, but now it's time for bed."**

**"Nuh-uh!"**

**"How about if I read you a story first?" Yugi squealed again and clapped his hands. Atem took a book from the shelf, sat in a rocker, and began reading to Yugi.**

**---**

**At about 2:30am, a flash of light lit up the dark night, followed by a roll of thunder. The loud noise had surprised Atem enough to awaken him from a stage five sleep. Fortunately for him, he could block it out and go back to sleep, but for ---**

**"D'da, D'da!" Speak of the devil ... "D'da!" Yugi kept repeating over and over again. Atem groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow.**

**"Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go back to sleep …" But that wasn't the case. Another flash of lightning and roll of thunder came. Atem sat straight up when he heard Yugi scream. Lazily throwing his covers off, he slowly got out of bed and made his way to his son's room.**

**In Yugi's room, the small boy was standing in his crib with the crib walls barely coming past his chin. His small hands clenched it as thunder roared again. "D'da!" He called, practically crying this time. Soon, the door opened, revealing Atem's sleepy form.**

**"Yugi, what's the matter? It's just a little thunder." Yugi held out his arms, begging to be picked up.**

**"Seep ichoo!" Incase you couldn't understand that, that was 'sleep with you!' Atem sighed again and went over to pick up his frightened son.**

**"Alright, c'mon." He picked Yugi up and placed him by his shoulder. The tired father was about to turn and walk to his room when Yugi stopped him.**

**"Ping!" Atem turned toward the crib again.**

**"Oh, that's right; we can't forget Ping." He reached into the crib and pulled out a small panda bear stuffed-animal and gave it to Yugi, who cuddled with it as soon as it was in his arms. The two slowly made their way over to Atem's room.**

**Once there, Atem set Yugi on his bed, but the tired man walked away. Yugi started to crawl to the edge of the bed, reaching for Atem again. "D'da!"**

**"It's alright, Yugi; I'm just going to the bathroom. You get under the covers." Yugi shivered as he made himself comfortable under the thick blankets. Soon, the sound of flushing was heard and Atem came back out of the bathroom and made his way over to the bed. As soon as he lay down, Yugi forced his way between his father's arms, getting as close as he possibly could. Atem just chuckled and kissed the child on the head. Another roll of thunder sounded. This one was extremely loud, as if it were right on top of their house. Yugi started to whimper and cry. Atem's eyes opened at hearing the small sniffling sound. "Yugi, what's the matter?" Yugi didn't answer; he just looked out the window. "Would it be better for you if I were by the window instead?" Yugi nodded and climbed on top of Atem, causing an '_oomph_' sound to come from him. He snuggled up next to his father. This time, when the lightning flashed, it wasn't so scary.**

**Atem wrapped his arms around Yugi and pulled him closer. Soon, the boy was asleep once again, and the storm was over.**

---

_End of Chapter_


	2. Grandma's Birthday

_As these go on, you'll notice that a lot of them come from my other stories. This one is an example. It was originally supposed to be fore 'I Need Your Help, and You Need Mine', but I forgot to put it in, so here it is! Enjoy, y'all!_

_---_

**It was a beautiful summer afternoon. Atem and Yugi were going to visit Atem's mother for her birthday. Atem was happy that he got to see his family again. His parents and two brothers would be there as well. He was supposed to bring the pasta that his mother had taught him to cook. Everything was almost ready; except for the hard part: getting the baby ready.**

**"Yugi, are you ready to take a bath?"**

**"No baf!" He heard called down the hallway. Atem rolled his eyes and chuckled. This always happened every time Yugi had to take a bath. The barely one-year-old would always run away and hide somewhere; usually under his bed. Fortunately for the child, Atem was in a playful mood, so he went along with Yugi's game.**

**"Yes, it's time for a bath!" He thought he'd give Yugi a five second head start before he started to hunt him down. He heard the small sound of giggling upstairs and heard Yugi's feet tapping the floor as he waddled into some part of the house. Atem chuckled again as he started up the stairs. "Where, oh where could Yugi be?" He stepped into the baby's room. He circled the bed a few times before he dropped to his knees and looked under it. "BOO!" But to his surprise, Yugi was not there like he normally was. "That's strange …" He checked Yugi's closet and bathroom, but both were empty. "Yugi?" He called.**

**He checked his office, the guest room, his own room, and his bathroom, but the baby was nowhere to be found. The father was starting to get very worried now. "Yugi, this isn't funny anymore; come out this instant!" He walked out of his room and gasped at what he saw. On the other side of the house, the doorway to the attic was open. "Oh no … he could get hurt up there!"**

**In the attic, all kinds of things were up there. Things one would normally find in an attic, anyway. There were old things from his family and other useless items he collected over the years. "Yugi, are you up here?" Just then, he heard a screaming cry coming from the corner. "Yugi!" Once there, he found the small child tangled in an old, springy mattress. The springs were cutting into his skin and he looked to be trapped between them. Atem chuckled a little. "That should teach you to come up here and wonder off!" Yugi gave his father a '_help me!_' look. After seeing that the child had suffered long enough, he carefully helped the boy out of the mattress springs. "I hope you haven't caught Tetanus." He brought the child into his lap. Yugi gazed at Atem with sad and sorry eyes. He was covered in head to toe in dust. "Yugi, you know you're not allowed up here." Yugi hung his head. "Why did you come up here?"**

**"Hide …"**

**"You were hiding?" Yugi nodded. "That's no excuse; but I think the mattress gave you a worse punishment then I could, so I guess I'll go easy on you this time." Yugi sniffled and wiped his nose with his arm. When he did, he sneezed loudly and shook off a cloud of dust. Atem had to laugh at that sight. "Well, now there's no denying that you need a bath." Yugi didn't fight it this time. He let Atem carry him down to his bathroom to bathe.**

**---**

**Once the small child was clean once again, Atem and Yugi set out to his parents' house. The drive wasn't long, but it was such a beautiful day that everyone seemed to want to be out in it. There were a lot of people on the streets, and Atem stopped at almost every stoplight. Yugi kept himself entertained by looking out the windows in the backseat and singing to himself. He swung his legs back and forth. It was an adorable sight.**

**"D'da …" Atem looked at his son through the rear-view mirror.**

**"What is it, Yugi?" The baby squirmed in the seat.**

**"Go pee …" Atem's eyes widened.**

**"You have to pee? Can you wait until we get to Nana and Papa's?" Yugi started to bounce in his car seat.**

**"Pee now!" Atem sighed. Finally, the traffic was moving.**

**"Hang on, Yugi!" The father sped to get to his parent's house as fast as he could. Yugi showed signs that he was ready to be potty-trained, but he always seemed to have accidents. Plus, this was a new car and he didn't want Yugi to have an accident in it."**

**"Pee!"**

**"We're almost there, Yugi!" Five blocks and three sharp turns later, they made it to his parents' house. He looked over at Yugi who seemed to stop squirming. "Yugi, ready to go?" The boy blinked.**

**"I pee." He simply said. The color seemed to leave Atem's face.**

**"You did …?" Yugi giggled.**

**---**

**Inside the house, Eleanor was cooking something like … liver with some mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. If there was one thing she was known for, it was her cooking. All her boys seemed to love it and want more. Just then, there came a knock at the side door. Atem came in with an annoyed look on his face. Eleanor laughed.**

**"How could I have possibly annoyed you when you just walked in?" Atem glared at his mother.**

**"Ha, ha; very funny, Mother." He placed the diaper bag down by the door. Suddenly, instead of going around, Yugi walked right through Atem's legs and shouted:**

**"Nana!"**

**"Yugi!" The small child waddled over to his grandmother as she grabbed him in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much!"**

**"Mother, where are Marik and Bakura?"**

**"Oh, they'll be here in a few minutes; Bakura said something came up at the last minute and that they would be a little late." Atem was about to reply when a voice beat him to it.**

**"Those two always have something come up at the last second. They defiantly know the fashionably late rule, that's for sure." It was Atem's father, Solomon.**

**"Hello, Dad." Solomon was about to give Atem a hug when Yugi threw himself at his grandfather's stomach.**

**"Papa!"**

**"Well hello there, Yugi. It's good to see you too!" Atem chuckled.**

**"Yugi, what do you say to Nana?" The baby looked over at his grandmother.**

**"'Ppy bifdy, Nana." For anyone who couldn't translate that, that was 'happy birthday, Grandma.' Eleanor squealed and hugged Yugi again.**

**"Oh, thank you, Pumpkin! Oh my, what's that smell?"**

**"It's probably Yugi; he had an accident right when we pulled up into the driveway." Atem said while rolling his eyes. Yugi smiled and started to hop up and down.**

**"I pee!" Solomon and Eleanor both laughed at the adorable child.**

**"Very nice for you, Son; now let's go change your clothes and dry you off." Atem said, picking Yugi and his diaper bag up and heading to the bathroom. Yugi waved to his grandparents.**

**"B'bye!" Just then, the side door opened again.**

**"Sorry we're late, but Marrie here, had to get one last shot, and I do mean shot, at the neighborhood cats before we could go." Bakura said, setting a box of cookies on the table. Marik held his hands around his youngest brother's throat.**

**"Hey, hey, hey! Those cats 're formin' some kinda rebellion against us humans, I know it! And stop callin' me Marrie!"**

**"You are all kindsa crazy!" Bakura replied. The two started to fight, which eventually turned into a physical fight. But Eleanor and Solomon didn't move to stop them.**

**"Remember when they were living here and we had to referee these kinds of things, Dear?" Solomon asked. Eleanor nodded.**

**"Yes, thank God they're all grown up and moved out." Solomon shrugged.**

**"I wouldn't say grown up …" While Marik and Bakura continued to argue, Atem came back out with Yugi in his arms, dressed in fresh clothes. He put the child down. Somehow, Bakura ended up on the floor with Marik on top.**

**"Say it!" Marik kept repeating while Bakura always reply:**

**"Never!"**

**"Say it, or I'll neuter ya!" Bakura struggled a little more.**

**" … MERCY!" Finally, Marik got off of his younger brother. Both looked up when they heard Atem chuckling. He stood there with his arms folded.**

**"_'Pile on Bakura_'; haven't played that game since high school." Marik scoffed.**

**"Whaddaya mean? We played it last week at '_All You Can Drink_' night at '_Patrick's Pub_'!" Marik finished. Atem laughed as his two brothers stood up and greeted him with a headlock and head-bashes. Bakura looked around for something.**

**"Hey, where are my cookies?" A giggling sound was heard behind them. Yugi stood there with a box of cookies in his hands.**

**"Cookie!" Atem took a few steps towards his son, but Yugi giggled and took off.**

**"Yugi, no! You know you're not allowed to have cookies!"**

**"Why not?" Marik asked. Yugi started to run around the house, screaming. Atem held out his hand.**

**"That's why not!"**

**Soon, it came time for dinner. Yugi sat in a booster seat at the end of the table while Atem sat next to him, then Bakura, on the other end, Solomon, then Marik, and then Eleanor. The three triplets just stared at their food.**

**"Mom, why do you make this when you know none of us likes it?" Bakura asked. Eleanor didn't seem to have a problem with the liver.**

**"You liked it last time I made it." Marik kept poking his.**

**" … I don't think it's dead yet."**

**"Boys, your mother put a lot of work into this meal, so just eat it!" Atem cringed.**

**"Not even if you paid us like the last time she made it." Solomon dropped his fork and Eleanor did the same with her jaw.**

**"Solomon, did you pay these boys to pretend they liked my liver?" Atem and Marik exchanged glances.**

**"…Well, not all of them …"**

**"Yeah, what a rip off!" Bakura exclaimed.**

**"D'da!"**

**"What is it, Yugi? You haven't even eaten your mashed potatoes yet." Yugi extended his tiny arms and flexed his fingers. Marik raised a brow.**

**"What's he want?"**

**"Ah!" The baby opened his mouth and kept it open like a baby bird waiting to be fed. Finally, Atem caught on.**

**"You want to try this?" Yugi nodded. Bakura scoffed.**

**"Why, when three outta four of us don't like it?" Atem didn't answer. He sighed and cut up a small piece of the meat for Yugi.**

**"Alright, but I don't think you're going to like it." Atem inserted the meat into his son's open mouth. Yugi started to chew with the few teeth that he had. His lips made smacking sounds as he chewed. The rest of the family watched to see the boy's reaction. Once Yugi was done and he was able to swallow, he squealed loudly and clapped his hands.**

**"He likes it!" Marik and Bakura both exclaimed in unison. Atem raised a brow when Yugi begged for more.**

**"Weird kid … oh well, here. You can have mine." The other two wanted to give Yugi their dinners too, but his tiny stomach wasn't going to hold that much meat.**

**Later, Eleanor was able to open her presents. She received some spices from Bakura, a sweater from Atem, and a card from Marik that said on the front: '_Mom, no matter how old you get, I'll always be there with you_.' On the inside it said: '_kinda scary, huh?_' Everyone had a good laugh at that. When it was time for cake, Solomon and the triplets sang '_Happy Birthday_', and Yugi did his best to help out. He blew out the candles on the cake. Once the candles were out, the baby took both of his hands and grabbed two handfuls of cake.**

**"Yugi!" Atem yelled, but the boy only giggled with icing all over his face and in his mouth. "Yugi, what do you say?" Yugi looked at his grandmother with his mouth still full and his hands still covered in cake.**

**"Fakoo." Everyone laughed while Marik took a picture.**

**"I believe that was '_thank you_'." Atem translated. All and all, it turned out to be a very nice family reunion. Yugi did more adorable things that wore him out in the end. He fell asleep before they even started to go home. The sugar finally took its toll on him. That night, he dreamed of cake.**

---

_End of Chapter_


	3. Mommy's Little Boy

_Okay, let me just say that even though Yugi isn't really a baby in this chapter, he starts out as one. The next chapter, he will be a baby. Also, most of you want Yugi with a mother, right? I got asked ifI was going to make Tea his mother. **I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!** It's not that I hate her with a vengence like most everyone else, I just **CAN'T STAND** her being in a relationship with either Yami or Yugi. There's a reason Kiara was made for Yami and Alana was made for Yugi! That way, I don't use Tea as the mother. So, any mother that I give to Yugi will always be Kiara, wether she's married to Atem or not. Whoo! That felt **SO**good to get off my chest! Now, without farther ad ue, here's my Mother's Day update for 'Baby Tales'!_

_---_

On the day of his birth, he was very small. The little baby boy almost did not make it out of that nursery that day, thanks to his premature birth. The baby was two months premature, but the mother, Kiara was her name, hoped with all her heart that her child would survive. She decided that she would name her child, Yugi because she always saw life as a game; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Angels must have been watching, because the child survived. The mother was very happy to have her baby live, but it came with a price. The child would cry all night and was always sick. Still, the mother would always care for her baby. She wanted him to grow up to be the best he could be, even if it took a lot of work on her part. Too bad the father did not think the same. (_He won't be given a name_) Both the mother and father would always fight with one another. By the time Yugi was two, he would always have his ears covered so that he did not have to listen to the fighting. Then, that day came …

It was Yugi's third birthday. He stood outside, watching his father pack his car with all of his stuff. Where was Daddy going? And more importantly, why didn't he ask Yugi to come along? Yugi continued to watch as his father came back to get a few more boxes. The man patted Yugi on the head and walked past the small child. Once that box was in the car, the man entered it and started the engine. Yugi dropped the blanket he was holding and ran out to the street to catch the car, but it never stopped. Tears ran down Yugi's chubby cheeks, he knew that despite what his father had told him, he would never see him again. That man only knew how to break promises instead of keep them. Letting a few of them fall, he walked back into the house.

Inside, he could hear his mother silently crying. She was very upset. She sat on the couch with a tissue in her hand. Yugi loved his mother very much and hated to see her cry. He crawled into her lap and cuddled with her. She had done the same.

"Dun't cwy, Ma-ma, I still heeuh." Kiara looked down in her lap and squeezed Yugi tightly.

"Thank you, Baby." Yugi smiled, happy that he could make his mother feel better. From that moment on, he promised himself that he would always take good care of his mother. In his mind, they didn't need anyone else, only each other.

Three months after his father left, Yugi and Kiara moved into a new house to get away and start making new memories. They moved to a small town by the San Francisco Bay. It was a beautiful suburb, not too big and not too small.

---

As the years passed, Yugi and Kiara had become closer then ever. They were always playing on the beach and talked about everything that went on in their lives. Nothing could take Yugi away from his mother. And Kiara was very involved in Yugi's life. She joined the PTA at his school, became his soccer team's '_team mom_', and always cheered for him when he would be in a school play or something. She made a small shrine-like area for all his achievements such as his A+ tests at school, his trophies, all his school pictures, and even kept a scrap book of them both spending time together out on the beach. Yes, life was picking itself up again … that is until Kiara started to date other men again.

This ticked Yugi off more then anything. His mother was so hurt when his father left them, and he didn't want to risk her heart again. His mind was set on the fact that any man who came into his mother's life, then he would hurt her in the end. He had to keep that from happening. So every chance he got, he would sabotage his mother's dates. He would pour a bucket of paint from his bedroom window, bring home bugs from the school biology lab and mix it with the current date's things when they would stay over, and whenever they tried to '_bond_' with him, he would become a little monster, and they would break it off with his mother because he was such a chore. Of course, when Kiara found out about these little things, she grounded him. Why couldn't she see that he was doing it all for her?

Yugi was victorious in all of these dates … that is until his mother started to date a real challenge … Atem Darkling. (_Not the same one from '_You Need My Help and I Need Yours_'; I just like using that last name for him._) This one proved to be the toughest of them all, and Yugi could tell that his mother was falling … bad. And how could she not? I mean this guy was beyond gorgeous, Yugi will admit, and the two of them looked alike, but you could tell that Atem was at least twenty years older then Yugi was. Things just didn't seem right. He was nothing special. He'd hurt her, just like all the rest … and of course, his own father.

No matter what Yugi did, Atem would always just see it as a game. One day, Kiara had suggested for Yugi and Atem to get to know each other by spending the day together. Atem thought this was a good idea, but Yugi was beyond furious. On the morning of that day, Yugi slowly dragged his way out of his bed.

"Mom, do I really have to do this?" Kiara placed her coffee on the table and went over to hug her son.

"Listen, you and Atem are going to have a great time today. Who knows, you might even find that you love him like I do." Yugi scrunched up his face.

"Let's hope not!" Kiara placed her hand over her mouth and laughed as it just occurred to her what she had said.

"Well, maybe not _exactly_ like I do, but you know what I mean." Yugi rolled his eyes. His mother acted too cocky when it came to this Darkling guy.

"But … what if he becomes Dad all over again? I don't want to see you that sad ever again." Kiara cooed when Yugi said this and pulled him close.

"Oh, Yugi … I love you so much … I know Atem would be different. It's like … well, sweetheart, do you know what the term '_soul mate_' means?" Yugi cringed.

"Mom, I'll make you a deal: I'll give Atem a chance if you promise never to use that word again." Both laughed at this.

"Deal." Suddenly, a knock came to the door. Without even waiting for a response, Atem came in.

"Hey, you two!" Kiara smiled, went up to him, and gave him a kiss. Yugi had to fight back the urge to barf. Atem glanced over at the boy and smiled a smile that would hopefully win him Yugi's affection … and blessing to marry his mother.

"Good morning, Yugi. Are you ready to get the day started?" Yugi glared at his mother's boyfriend and rolled his eyes.

"Let's just get this over with …" Yugi grabbed his back pack and gave his mother a hug.

"Try and have fun okay, Baby?" Yugi sighed and nodded. He walked over to Atem who led him out of the house.

Once in the car, Yugi wouldn't even look at Atem. He just stared out the window. Atem kept glancing at the boy, hoping he would say something. He knew that this was not Yugi's favorite way to spend the day, spending it with someone he barely knew. "So, Yugi … where would you like to go?" Yugi sighed and didn't even look at the man that was driving the car.

"Who cares?" Atem just smiled.

"Oh, now don't be like that; I'm sure there's something you would like to do."

"I'd like to go home …" Atem knew he was getting nowhere, but held a strong face. He chuckled and tapped Yugi on the knee, gaining the boy's attention.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." Yugi's eye twitched when Atem patted his knee. He didn't want this man touching any part of him, and it only made him sicker thinking about how Atem would touch his mother. It wasn't too long before Atem pulled up into a _Denny's_. Atem held the door for the depressed boy who just walked with his head lowered and his hands in his pockets. As soon as they were in, they were seated and menus were given to them.

"Alright, let's see what looks good here, hmm?" Yugi just looked at the menu. He and his mom never really went out to eat. He was used to organic health foods, which was why he was so skinny to begin with, and everything on the menu looked fake and fatty. '_This is disgusting!_' He thought to himself.

"I think the '_Grand Slam_' looks good; bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and hash browns." Yugi gave him a disgusted look.

"Atem, does the word 'cholesterol' mean anything to you!"

"What do you mean?" Yugi sighed and put the menu down.

"I'm not hungry, everything here is so disgusting! It's all fatty and you're just asking for a heart attack my eating it!" Atem was surprised by Yugi's outburst.

"Um … alright, we'll just get our drinks … and leave … then …" Yugi didn't care. He just wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible.

---

The rest of the day had been like that. They went to a baseball game, and Atem found out the hard way that Yugi despised baseball with his life, seeing as how his real father was a famous baseball player and had forgotten all about them. They then went to the book store and Yugi found his favorite book and tried to explain it to Atem, but the older man never could understand what it was about. Another place they went to was the mall, and even just walking around, Yugi was embarrassed to be seen with Atem, truth be told, at the mall, he was embarrassed to be seen with his mother as well, so there was no way around that one.

On the way home, Yugi's mood still hadn't changed, and Atem was getting quite pissed. Suddenly, he swerved off the rode and did a u-turn into a parking lot, completely surprising the boy, who was now grasping the car door for dear life and panting. "Gees, ya tryin' ta kill me or sum'm!" He said.

"Alright, listen: I have been more then generous to you today, and you can't seem to even crack a smile for me!" Yugi came out of his daze and glared at the driver.

"This isn't going to win my affection, you know." He reached into his bag for the book that Atem had bought him earlier, but Atem snatched it out of his hands. "Okay, that was not a fun game at all." He said sarcastically.

"I want to know what your problem is with me! Why are you being so difficult! You know, I really wanted us to get along, Yugi, but for some reason, you keep pushing me out!" Yugi blinked with an emotionless face.

"Well, there's no reason for us to get along because you won't be around much longer." The older raised a brow and was getting angrier by the second.

"Oh, and what makes you say that?" Yugi took that as a threat. He moved close to Atem's face and glared at him with everything he had.

"Look, let's get something straight: I love my mother very much, she worked her butt off to take care of me and I'll be damned before I let someone like you break her heart once again!" Atem gasped. So that was why Yugi hated him. The boy thought that he was protecting his mother by pushing away anyone who would even come close to her. Now Atem felt guilty for thinking that Yugi was just acting out his rebellious teenage attitude … then again, Yugi wasn't a teenager, he was only ten. Atem had forgotten that he was going to have to make up for all the mistakes that Yugi's father had made. The ten year old boy was shaking now. He'd never done that before. He recoiled into himself and sat with his arms folded, pouting.

"Yugi, I would never hurt your mother. I love her very much." Yugi scuffed.

"You say that now, but what's gonna happen in a few years when you get tired of her and want to move on? I've picked up her pieces once before, and I don't plan on doing it again!"

"That won't happen … at least not with me. I know what your father did, and I promise that I would never do that to you." Yugi scuffed again. Atem took Yugi's chin and forced the boy to look him in the eye. "Yugi, I promise that I would never hurt you the way that bastard did. Did he ever look you in the eye like I am now?" Yugi's glare started to fade. He looked into the rubies that his mother adored so well and found only truth in his words.

"No … he didn't …" Tears were starting to form in the boy's eyes.

"Please trust me, Little One; I love your mother … and you. I want us to be a family." Yugi couldn't hold back the tears.

"How can you love me after everything I've done to you?" Atem smirked.

"Because you remind me of myself at your age."

"Huh?"

"By the time I was your age, my mother was already married a second time, and she left me with the biggest ass for a stepdad. When he would get angry, he got physical, and I took it upon myself to protect my mother. Eventually, she divorced him too, and a number of boyfriends followed. I was like you; I did everything to keep my mother to myself so that she wouldn't be hurt ever again." Yugi was listening with newfound interest. A tear shed down his face and Atem reached over and wiped it away. "One man took her interest more then others, and I saw him as a threat."

"A threat for what?"

"My mother's attention. You think that if she marries me, your mom won't have time for you anymore, right?" Yugi absently nodded. "Your mother loves you very much Yugi, and I would never want to take her from you."

"But what did you do when your mom got engaged again?"

"I had a long talk with her, and she told me that she was very happy with this new man, I let him get to know me, and we became very close, and to this day, he is still like my real father." Yugi thought about things for a while. Ever since Kiara had started to date Atem, she had been happier, and Atem did seem to want to be his father … could he really trust this man like this?

"I still don't know if I can trust you …" Atem nodded disappointingly.

"I don't expect you to right now, but I do want to be your father, Yugi. You're a good kid, you just need to chill out." Atem ruffled Yugi's hair. Yugi had to smile when he did that. "You look like your mother when you smile."

"Atem, would you take me to the mall?" Atem was surprised at this.

"I thought you were embarrassed to be seen with me."

"Well yeah, but I think it's time I get over that." Atem chuckled and restarted the car, heading to the mall.

---

Later that night, Atem stayed for dinner. It was going to take some time to adjust to the organic food, but it was something he was willing to do in order to become a member of the family. After Atem had left for the night, Yugi went up to his mother and sat down with her on the couch. She cuddled him and kissed him on the head. "Mom, do you love Atem? I mean really love him?"

"Yes, of course I do, Yugi. Why do you ask?" Yugi blushed and looked at the carpet.

"Well … I just wanted to know if you were really serious about him, or if it's just a fling."

"Baby, you're too young to be using that kind of language." Yugi blushed again.

"Mother!" Kiara laughed and kissed her son on the forehead.

"Yugi, I wanted you to get to know Atem because he wants to join our family, and I know that he would be a great role model for you."

"But we're doing fine, just you and me." Kiara shook her head.

"No, you need a father, and even after all you've done to him, he's still willing to be the father that you deserve." Yugi sighed. He couldn't argue with that.

---

Yugi decided to give the Atem the next few months to prove that he would be a good father. Surprisingly enough, he passed the tests. He came to Yugi's plays, his soccer games, hung out with him, and then came the real test: embarrassing Yugi in front of his friend, he tried to use teenage slang around them. As soon as Atem accomplished that, Yugi knew he had himself a father.

A year later, Yugi stood next to Atem at the front of the aisle as his best man. Yugi had agreed to give his mother to Atem, only if he knew that he came with the package. It really was an adorable sight. Both tri-haired males were dressed in the same tuxedo with their spiked hair the same way. Kiara wore a bright white dress that she had designed herself. They were perfect. And Yugi was happy that he finally had the family he always wanted.

---

_The End_


	4. A Child's Needs

_Sorry this one is so long, but I really got into this one. I realize it's pretty cliche with the stuff I've done in the past, but I can't help it, it's just so adorable! Anyway, this has Kiara in it again, but instead of being princess, like she was in 'Memories', she's a priestess in here, and Atem's father is still alive. I can't pronounce/spell his name, so I just call him the former Pharaoh or the Retired Pharaoh. So, if you've got the time, enjoy this nice long story!_

---

It was early in the morning, and the second High Priestess, under Isis, of course, was pacing around the room. She had very big news to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt, Atem; news that would change his life, not to mention her own, forever. Here's what happened:

About three weeks ago, the two of them had had a … '_fling_' of some sorts. This was brought on by a banquette that the current Pharaoh and his father, the retired Pharaoh were having. Pharaoh Atem and Priestess Kiara had never really been able to get along, but during the time of Atem's father's reign, she was one of his most trusted priestesses, so Atem was forced to keep her on staff for his father's sake. Anyway, to make a long story short, words were said, drinks were … drunk, one thing led to the other, and the next thing Kiara knew, she was waking up the next morning in Atem's bed. Both had decided that it was just a night of lust and passion, nothing more. Therefore, they both left it at that. However for Kiara, she had been sick a lot during the past couple of weeks and noticed that she had missed her monthly cycle. It was official: she was pregnant … and with the Pharaoh's child no less! That was a lot of stress; especially since it was Atem.

Kiara had to admit that Pharaoh Atem was **_NOT_** one of her favorite people at all. Of course, her best friend was Mana, a sorceress-in-training, and she was also one of Atem's best friends as well; so, there really was no way of avoiding Atem for long. Even if he was the king, that didn't mean that Kiara had to like it. They would both throw insults at each other whenever they could. Kiara always knew that Atem had the power to have her head cut off, but he never did … it was as if he enjoyed tormenting her. They had known each other since they were preteens, when he was twelve and she was ten, and had despised each other all the same; even now as he was twenty one and she was eighteen. She hated the Pharaoh, because Atem had always been a spoiled brat; always got what he wanted. Even as a teenager, knew he was good looking and would always flaunt it. He was a rebel that loved mischief and absolutely loved to have the last word even more. Kiara was different. She was quiet, did as she was told, and always seemed to be in control of herself. Atem and Kiara were total opposites, and now they would be brought together all because of one night full of mistakes.

Kiara sighed as she waited for the father of her child to walk through those doors. Her hand found its way to her stomach and she unconsciously rubbed it. She knew that it was her duty to tell the Pharaoh that he had planted a seed without meaning to, but she was also scared to do so as well. Everyone knew that when Atem was born, his father took him away and raised him himself. That was what Kiara was afraid of … that Atem would take this baby from her just as his father did to him. Tears filled her amethyst eyes. Her long, black hair was dangled in braids; each one had a bead of a different color at the end of it. She pushed her braids out of her eyes as she heard Atem's booming voice coming from beyond the doors. She stood as she wiped her face of the tears she didn't want the young Pharaoh to see.

"I don't care if it costs us another harvest, I want it done now!" Kiara cringed. Atem could be classified as a tyrant sometimes, but he did do his job, so she held her tongue. Atem closed the doors and stood in front of the priestess with his golden arms folded. "You wished to speak to me, Kiara?" The priestess swallowed the lump in her throat. This was going to be harder then she thought.

"Um … yes, Your Highness … actually, I … wanted to … tell you something …" She twiddled with her fingers from nervousness. Atem cocked a brow.

"Kiara, if this has anything to do with what we did three weeks ago, I think we should just"---

"I'm pregnant!" Atem's eyes widened.

"--- Keep talking about this …" Kiara sighed and moved to sit down. She hid her face with her hands. "Y-you're really … pregnant?" Without even looking up, the priestess nodded.

"It's not like I planned it or anything, sometimes these things just happen …" Atem just stood there, blinking like an idiot. "I'm not sure if telling you was the right thing; you can be as involved as you want, but please, Atem, I beg you not to take this baby away from me …" She looked up to see that Atem was still just standing there, blinking with his jaw hanging. "Atem?" She waved her hand in front of his face, but got no response. "Atem, say something." Finally, he woke up.

"Now wait, are you sure you're pregnant with _my_ … child?" He never thought he'd be able to say that. Kiara nodded again.

"Positive; you're the only one I've been with since that night." She was sure Atem had different lovers every night, but like I said before, they were total opposites.

"Wow … so … you're really going to go through with this?" Kiara nodded again, but this time, she had tears coming out of her eyes. "Kiara, what's the matter?"

"Atem, please, please don't take my baby from me!" Atem was taken back for a second. Take the baby from her? He would never do such a thing! Ra knew that young children needed their mothers … even if he didn't --- wait a second! Was that the reason why she asked? Because he had been taken from his own mother?" He sat down on the chair next to her. He hesitated for a second before he gathered her hand in his own.

"Kiara, I would never do such a thing. Yes, my father took me away from my mother, but I am nothing like him." He said. Kiara looked at him with teary eyes.

"Y-you won't take my baby away from me?" Atem smiled and shook his head.

"Never … so long as you make sure that I become a part of this child's life." Kiara smiled too.

"Well, that was always your decision, Atem."

"I know … now the hard part is … telling my own father …"

---

Atem's father had been less then amused … completely furious, and just a tad pissed when he found out that his twenty-one-year-old son had been acting like a sixteen-year-old with one of the priestesses. Never the less, the retired Pharaoh was glad that Atem had himself an heir so early in his career. Atem didn't want to hear it. What he did want to do was be there for Kiara every step of the way … and he meant that fully. He really was there … _every_ … step … of the way. By the time Kiara had reached her third trimester, both were beginning to get on each other's nerves: Atem, with Kiara's constant mood swings, and Kiara, with Atem constantly being there. Isis, the other priests, and Mana also tried to help out. She was more of a help then Atem, that's for sure.

Right now, Atem was just glad to get away from the pregnant lady down the hall. Sometimes he would ask himself why he put up with all of Kiara's crap, but he had to remind himself that it was his child too. It couldn't be much longer, could it? Just then, Seto burst into his room.

"Don't you knock?"

"Do you want the news or do you want to bitch at me?" Atem sat up with a confused look on his face.

"Well, I want to bitch at you, but I'm curious to know what this news is."

"Kiara just went into labor." Now Atem flew out of his bed and stood on his feet.

"WHAT!" He ran past Seto and skidded down the halls until he came to Kiara's chambers. As he ran, he could hear Kiara screaming, so he followed the screams. He didn't even stop when the guards at the door told him he had to. He ran right past them and skidded to a halt when he entered the room. He saw Isis in the position ready to deliver the baby and Mana was dabbing Kiara's head with a wet washcloth. The youngest priestess herself was crying, and screaming in pain. "What did I miss?"

"**A LOT**!" She continued to scream. He moved to Kiara's side and took her hand.

"Is there anything I can do?" Mana pushed him away.

"Yeah, you can get lost." He looked at her with widened eyes.

"I beg your pardon!" But there was no time to argue. Kiara's screams were getting louder by the second.

"Kiara, it is time." Isis informed her assistant. Kiara looked at Atem with hatred in her eyes.

"Atem, remind me to make sure you feel every ounce of pain I feel once this kid is here!" If Atem were to say that he wasn't scared, he'd be lying. A pregnant woman was not something to mess with. He backed away slowly.

"Ready? One … two … push!" Kiara pushed as hard as she could. Atem found his curiosity was getting the best of him. He wanted to see what was going on, but when he took a peek and saw the blood, he decided to turn away … that is, until he heard the squealing cries of a brand new baby.

"It's a boy." Isis said. Atem gasped. He had a son … his own baby boy. Kiara saw Isis holding a small head that was slowly beginning to be attached to small shoulders, arms, and legs.

"He's so tiny …" Isis wrapped the child up in a blanket and began to clean him. Kiara looked at her.

"Where are you taking him!" Atem decided that he needed to chill Kiara out before she hurt someone.

"She's just going to get him cleaned up."

"But … my baby!"

"He'll be fine …" Atem took a cloth and dabbed Kiara's forehead with it. Finally, Isis came back with a clean bundle, wrapped in a blanket, in her arms. It was making cooing sounds. Kiara was still in pain, but she was determined to hold her son after everything she just went through. Isis smiled at them.

"Congratulations Atem and Kiara, here is your new baby boy." Kiara moved the blanket away from the child's face. His tiny fists were balled up and every once in a while, his mouth would open and close. Atem leaned close to Kiara to get a better look at his new son.

"Oh my Ra …" He whispered. The child opened his eyes. They were amethyst, just like Kiara's own. He wasn't bald like most babies. In fact, it could be seen that he had gained Atem's style. The child had six golden bangs on his hair line, and the rest of the fuzz that grew out of his head was black and tipped magenta at the end. His skin was not caramel colored like his father's, but more like an olive color like his mother's. His cheeks were rosy and his nose was button-like. (_If you wanna see a picture of him, visit my profile and it'll take you to my dev account. The picture I'm talking about is called '_Snuggle Baby_'_) Atem couldn't believe how many traits his son had taken from him and how many he had taken from Kiara. He no longer had to be suspicious if this was his child or not; it was official. Kiara was still crying, but now her cries had turned into cries of joy.

"He's so beautiful …" She said, sniffling. The baby made cooing noises and opened his tiny, soft palm when his mother placed her finger in his hand. "Hello, my sweet little baby boy …" The baby smiled at hearing his mother's voice. Kiara cried and laughed at the same time, kissing the baby on the forehead. Atem had to smile too.

"So … what are we going to call him?" He asked. Kiara pulled her attention away from her new baby long enough to hear Atem's question.

"Well, I thought you could give him his name." The baby sucked on his mother's finger as his parents were talking. Atem looked surprised at her.

"Really?" Kiara nodded. "Alright … how about … Heba." (_Since this is Ancient Egypt, it's really supposed to be '_Heba_', but to save you all the confusion, I'm going to call him '_Yugi_'_.) Kiara smiled.

"Perfect." She looked down at the baby in her arms. He seemed to like it too by the smile on his face. "He's so adorable!" Kiara said.

"Well, are you going to hand him over or not?" Atem asked. Kiara glanced up at him with an '_are you kiddin' me!_' kind of look. For a second, she thought Atem was going to break his promise and take her son away from her. He looked at her confusingly. "What?"

"You promised that you wouldn't take him away from me." Atem rolled his eyes.

"Please, I just want to hold him." Kiara groaned in annoyance. She didn't want to give her baby away so easily, but he was the father, and half of this baby was his. She reluctantly handed the Pharaoh his newborn son.

"Careful …" She muttered as she passed Yugi over. Atem wasn't bothered by the motherly tone in Kiara's concerned voice. He just wanted to hold his son in his arms. Once there, he gazed into those soft, giant eyes that held Kiara's color. But there was something different from Yugi's eyes that Kiara's didn't hold … they were actually _happy_ to see him. The baby smiled back at his father, feeling completely at peace with both of his parents. Atem smiled and kissed his son on the head, taking in that newborn baby scent. He loved it. He couldn't take his eyes off of this new wonder. A feeling of warmth and relaxation came over him as he gazed at the baby.

"I never thought anything could make me feel this way …" Kiara smiled while Atem started to rock back and forth. Yugi continued to coo and look around the new world he was in. Right now, everything was so blurry, but time would change that. Suddenly, he scrunched up his tiny face and let out a soft squealing cry. Atem gasped, thinking he'd done something wrong. "What, what I do? Why's he crying?" Upon hearing the new baby crying, Isis came back, laughing.

"You did nothing, My Pharaoh; he's just hungry." She turned to her assistant that had just become a mother. "Kiara, I believe it is time for your first nursing lesson." Isis took the crying baby from Atem's arms, who had groaned at the loss of warmth, and gave him back to his mother. Kiara looked at Atem for a second.

"Atem, no offence but … get lost." That last part came out a little bit harsher then she meant. He looked at her with a look that combined shock with offence.

"Excuse me!"

"I'm afraid that, in her own rude way, Kiara is right, My King." Atem looked shocked that Isis would say something like that to him. Yugi squirmed and screamed louder when he wasn't getting fed fast enough.

"Fine, I'm leaving; but once you're done, I'm coming back!" Kiara shifted Yugi to lying in her arms

"Oh, isn't that comforting." She said sarcastically.

---

Later that night, Kiara was in her chambers, trying to put Yugi to sleep. The small baby was squirming every now and then, but all and all, he was a happy baby. He was warm, loved, and had a full tummy. What more could a baby possibly ask for? Maybe … attention. Kiara would rock him in her arms, singing a melody to him. Apparently, Baby Yugi liked the sound of his mother's voice. It seemed to lull him to sleep so easily. Suddenly, a clap was heard. Kiara looked up to see that Atem had come in at some time of her song.

"I didn't know you could sing." Kiara got up and started walking to Yugi's crib to lay him down.

"You never asked me." Atem rolled his eyes as he watched his son's mother place him in his bed. "What are you here for?" The Pharaoh entered the room.

"I came to say good night to him; he is my son too, after all." He looked in the crib to see the small baby rub his eyes with his tiny fist. The father couldn't help but bend over and give his little boy a kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, Yugi." He whispered. Then it was Kiara's turn to kiss their son good night.

"Good night, Sweet Heart, I love you." Kiara stood up, and Atem looked her right in the eye. The Pharaoh gave a small smile and leaned down to give Kiara a peck on the cheek. The Priestess blushed a bit. "What was that for?"

"For giving me the greatest gift that no one else could ever give me." He looked down at the sleeping baby in the crib. Kiara smiled.

"Well, it was half your fault." Once again, Atem rolled his eyes.

"Good night." Being the gentleman that he thought he was, he bowed and saw his own way out of the room.

---

The next morning, Atem came back into Kiara's chambers. He could hear some kind of sound coming from the corner where the crib was. When he went over to Yugi's crib, he saw the small baby cooing to himself, just being entertained by looking around. Atem couldn't help but chuckle at this adorable sight.

"Good morning to you too, Little One." The only answer he got from the baby was a small coo and the opening and closing of his small hands. The Pharaoh reached down and picked Yugi up, being careful to place his hand under the newborn's head as he did so. Once Yugi was safely in his arms, and happily chewing on his own fists, he looked over at Kiara, who was still sleeping. "Oh Kiara," he began in a sing-song voice and a smile on his face, "I'm taking Yugi with me for a while; just thought I'd let you know." Kiara groaned and turned over in her sleep. Yugi had been crying all night, and as a result, she was up all night trying to get him to go to sleep, so he knew she'd be out for a while, which was the perfect time to spend alone with his son. He started to walk to his own chambers with the baby in hand.

Once there, he saw the small child let out a soundless yawn. Atem couldn't help but go '_aww_' at the sight. "Are you still sleepy? So am I. How about we go back to bed, hmm?" He didn't get an answer because Yugi has fallen back to sleep. He shifted Yugi in his arms so that the child was resting his head on his father's chest. Atem smiled and kissed his son on the head. He loved that newborn scent. Now that he was a father, he couldn't get enough of it. Slowly, so that he didn't wake the baby, he made his way to the bed and lay on top of it, with Yugi comfortably sleeping on his chest. The Pharaoh ran his right hand up and down his son's bare back. The only thing the child wore was the blanket he was wrapped in to keep him warm. And he was warm. The warmth that the baby's soft body was giving off was putting the grown man to sleep as it was. Atem wore no top, so his child was lying on his bare chest, with the blanket covering his tiny legs. He had always heard that babies were soft, but he never thought that they'd be this soft. The child's skin felt like the feathers of a bird; too soft to describe any other way. The tiny baby was obviously comfortable because he wasn't fussing or screaming. So Atem took that as a good thing. Maybe he really could do this father thing.

---

A few hours later, Atem awoke to something squirming on top of his chest. It took a moment for him to realize that it was his newborn son. The boy's face was scrunched up and he was whining a bit. Atem sat up and held Yugi to his shoulder, allowing the child to cry out fully.

"Shh … what's the matter, Yugi?" He was responded by a cry that seemed frustrated. Atem got up and paced around the room, trying to get the child back to sleep. "Shh … shh … there, there; it's alright …" Just then, Kiara burst in with a pissed off look on her face. She was a mother trying to protect her young, so that angry look was even scarier now then it used to be.

"ATEM! HOW DARE YOU!" Yugi's crying increased by the loud noise that Kiara's entrance had caused.

"How dare I what?" She rushed over and took the screaming baby into her arms.

"You took him from me!"

"No I didn't! I specifically told you that I was taking him to my room for a little while. I was going to give him back." Kiara bounced the baby on her shoulder while glaring at her child's father with an unforgiving look.

"No, you kidnapped him right from his crib!" Atem threw his arms in the air with a sigh.

"How is that kidnapping when we both live in the palace!"

"We live in different parts of the palace, Atem." The crying was getting worse and it was starting to hurt the young king's ears.

"Kiara, I'm sorry, but please get him to stop! I don't know what to do!" Kiara smirked.

"That's because he's hungry and you aren't properly '_equipped_' to feed him." This time it was Atem's turn to glare. Kiara continued to smirk as she left Atem's chambers to feed her child.

---

The next two months had passed and Yugi's development was right on track. Atem loved spending time with the child as much as possible. He and Kiara had worked it out so that their child was divided equally among them. Atem spent his evening hours with the baby, after his evening feeding, of course, while Kiara had her mornings and early afternoon times. He spent every other night with each one of them. Atem would sometimes bring Yugi to council meetings and would be a big distraction. His own father loved his new grandson very much, but he thought that Yugi's presence was distracting Atem from his work quite often. Instead of listening to what was going on in his kingdom, the Pharaoh would be playing with the child, doing everything he could to get that adorable little squealing giggle out of him.

This was at one of the evening hours that Atem had with Yugi, that the retired Pharaoh had caught them. Atem was raising Yugi in the air and giving him kisses on the cheek while the child giggled and squealed for more. Atem chuckled and nuzzled his baby boy. He loved this time with him.

"Atem, may I speak with you please?" Atem was busy playing with his son but heard what his own father had said.

"Of course, Father." He came in, holding Yugi to his shoulder. The small child was chewing on a soft ball to sooth the pain in his teething gums. "What did you want to speak to me about, Father?" The former king sighed.

"My Son, I can not help but notice that you have been neglecting your duties." Atem looked at his own father with confused eyes while bouncing his child.

"What do you mean, Father?" The former Pharaoh's eyes narrowed as he sighed heavily.

"Ever since Yugi was born, I have been doing your job for you. As much as I love him, I think you should spend less time with him." That was when Atem's red eyes went from ruby to fiery.

"Absolutely not! I hardly get to see him as it is!" The retired Pharaoh shook his head.

"Atem, you take him with you to meetings, and then you do not hear what goes on during them. The boy is a distraction and needs to be with his mother more then you." Atem glared at his father.

"How would you know? You took me away from my own mother as soon as I was born!" Atem's father was not pleased with his son back-talking to him.

"Do not take such a tone with me! I have spoken with the council members, and they believe that Yugi should be nowhere near the council until he has come of age!"

"Well Father, you aren't Pharaoh anymore, so you can't make that kind of decision without my say-so; therefore, I don't care what the council thinks, he is the prince after all, and my son … but here we are again at the question of how would you know? You were never there for me when I needed you, and I refuse to do the same to Yugi!" The former king had nothing to say. It was true that Atem was mostly raised by his tutors and nurses.

Unaware that the conversation was about him, the small boy continued to chew on the soft ball, making muffled coos every once in a while. Atem didn't want to hear any more. He walked into his room while Yugi responded with: "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba …" Atem chucked and kissed Yugi on the cheek.

"That's right, Little One; we don't have to listen to what they say." He raised the child to look at him in the eyes. Yugi gave a wide, happy smile … with drool running down his chin. Atem laughed and wiped it away with his cape. "No one can keep me away from you, my Little Yugi." Yugi squealed, waving his arms about. As he did so, his tiny hand hit Atem in the face. Yugi giggled when Atem admitted an '_oomph!_' sound. Atem laughed too and brought the baby closer to his chest so the two of them could snuggle. That was one of Yugi's favorite things to do. He would snuggle with anyone who would hold him. He was a happy baby with no care in the world as long as he was loved.

A soft knock came to the door. Kiara had come to pick up Yugi, but when she saw the scene before her, she didn't have the heart. She cleared her throat to make sure they knew she was there. "I'm sorry to interrupt your father/son time, but it's time for me to feed Yugi." Atem sighed, not wanting to part with Yugi so soon.

"If you must …"

"Well, if you want him to live, then I have to feed him." Upon hearing his mother's voice, Yugi held up his tiny two-month-old head and smiled his famous giant, shinning smile. "Hi, Sweetie; ready to eat?" Yugi cooed and held out one tiny, chubby arm towards his mother. Kiara picked him up and walked over to a plushy chair that Atem had in his room. He raised a brow. Usually, Kiara wouldn't feed Yugi right in front of him.

"You're not leaving?" Kiara looked at him as she positioned Yugi to lie in her arms and held a blanket over her left side.

"Well, he's staying with you tonight, so there's no point in taking him to my room." Atem absently nodded. Even though the blanket was over Yugi's body, he could hear Yugi suckling to get his food from his mother.

"Does that hurt?" He asked out of nowhere.

"Not at first, but now that he's teething, it's beginning to." Kiara could see a slight blush forming Atem's cheeks. She laughed at this. "Oh come now, Atem. It's not like you haven't seen them before." Atem had to chuckle at that.

"I guess." He could still hear Yugi enjoying his tummy filling up. "My father wants me to give up some of my time with him."

"What did you say?"

"I said forget it. Nothing can keep me away from my son. I refuse not to watch Yugi grow up." Kiara smiled. She had always believed in the phrase 'like father like son' but it was apparent that Atem was nothing like his father.

"Atem, I'm glad you made that decision. I really hoped that you wouldn't leave me to raise our son alone."

"Of course not." Kiara smiled.

"Ohh!" Atem looked at her in confusion.

"What?" The Priestess laughed in a painful way.

"Oh nothing; Yugi just bit me, that's all."

"Well that must have hurt." Kiara laughed and moved Yugi up to her shoulder and started to pat his back.

"Not so much yet; at least not while he's teething, but once they come in, I'm sure it will. Plus, that's how he tells me he's full." After a few seconds, Yugi let out a tiny burp and giggled. He always giggled when he burped. She stood up and firmly kissed Yugi on the forehead.

"Good night, Sweet Heart, Mommy loves you very much." She said as she handed him back over to Atem.

"What if he wakes up in the middle of the night?"

"He shouldn't; he hasn't been lately, but if he does, just come get me." The Pharaoh nodded and tried to keep Yugi's wondering hands away from his long blonde bangs. Atem's bangs had somehow become one of Yugi's favorite toys. He had discovered that his father made an interesting sound when he yanked on one. The baby thought it was the funniest thing. "Now, do you remember how to change his diaper?" Atem sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Kiara I know how to take care of an infant; I have a child of my own too, you know." He said sarcastically.

"I'm just trying to make sure that he has everything he needs!" Atem was still trying to keep Yugi's hands away from his hair. It looked as if he was trying to shoo a fly out of his face. Kiara placed a hand to her mouth as she laughed. "Oh, this is priceless …"

"If it were you, you wouldn't say that." Finally, he caught Yugi's hand and held it in his own. Kiara sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning for breakfast feeding then." She moved in to give Yugi one last kiss. "Night-night, Sweet Heart, Mommy loves you so much!" Yugi gigged as his mother kissed him on both cheeks and left. Yugi's smile left his face. He looked as if he was about to cry. Atem saw this.

"Oh no, no, Yugi it's alright. I'm still here!" That didn't comfort the baby any and he cried loudly. It seemed that the baby would rather be with his mother then with him. It made him feel a little insecure, but he also knew that it was the mother/child bond that they had.

A few more months passed, and Yugi was now seven months old. He could walk for a few minutes by himself before his little legs gave way to falling and he had to be picked up. He could also say a maximum of two syllables per word. Atem was '_D'da_' and Kiara was '_M'ma_' He still loved to play more then anything else. Everything was a game to him, and everyday was a learning experience. Each day he would discover at least one new thing. Yesterday, he discovered that his bare feet made a nice tapping sound on the palace floor when he walked.

---

Atem loved to watch his baby boy grow and learn. The smallest things held the child's attention, at least for a while, and it wasn't hard to please him at all. Right now, both Yugi and Atem were walking down the hallway that led to Kiara's suite. It was time for Yugi to return his son to his mother. He walked right alongside the baby, who was squealing happily. When he walked, he waddled like a duck. Yugi discovered that his voice echoed throughout the hallway no matter where he went. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at the base of a golden statue. Once Atem realized that the happy squealing had stopped, he turned to looked at what happened. "Yugi?" The tiny baby waddled over to the base of the statue. Atem placed his hands on his hips. "Well would you look at that." Yugi started to pat the base with his tiny palm several times and giggled. The boy had just discovered his reflection. The surface of the base was so shinny that you could probably eat off of it … which is what Yugi decided to do. He stuck out his tiny pink tongue to taste the base before Atem stopped him.

"No, no, no, that's not for eating, Little One. If you want something to eat, let's go see Mommy." Yugi clapped his hands at hearing '_mommy_'. Picking his son up, Atem continued on his way to Kiara's suite.

---

In her chambers, Kiara was brushing her hair. She was expecting Atem to return with Yugi any second. She didn't nurse him anymore. He had four teeth, so she fed him soft, mushy foods. She had the kitchen slave mash up his foods especially for him. Just as she finished brushing her hair, Atem came in with Yugi squealing at him.

"He's all yours." The Pharaoh said. Yugi spotted his mother and held out his arms for her to pick him up.

"M'ma!" He squealed. Kiara happily took her small son into her arms and cuddled him.

"Hi, Sweetie, did you have fun with Daddy?" Atem nodded.

"Yes, he went to the gardens today." Kiara made a small gasp.

"You did? Did you like it?" Yugi giggled and clapped his hands. Kiara laughed at his little way of showing that he had fun. She kissed him and put him down, allowing the baby to waddle over to his toys and start playing. Atem smiled.

"Well, good night." He was about to leave when Kiara caught his arm.

"Atem wait …" He turned to look at her.

"What is it?" Kiara bit her lip. This was the hardest thing she ever had to do … at least since Yugi was born.

"Um … well … you see, your father, Isis, the Priests and I have to leave the city for a couple of days …" Atem raised a brow.

"Where? And why wasn't I informed of this?" Not knowing about something like that really pissed him off.

"You weren't told? Your father asked us to accompany him on his trip to Mycenae. He knew you had business to do here, so he volunteered to take on that case and has ordered us to go with him." She took a breath, now came the hard part. "Anyway, we'll be gone for about a week, and … well, there won't be anyone else to watch Yugi so …" Atem put his hand up and smiled.

"Kiara, you don't have to ask. I'd be happy to take care of him while you're gone." Kiara let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Atem."

"No problem. So, are you all leaving tomorrow?" The Priestess nodded. Both parents looked over at their child when he giggled at himself. Atem could see tears forming in the mother's eyes as she looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Just … leaving him … for so long … What if he thinks I abandoned him?"

"He won't. He knows you wouldn't do that." Kiara sniffled.

"I just can't believe I have to leave my baby so soon for a long time …"

"It's only a week."

"Still … it's just the idea of leaving him …" Atem could see that Kiara really was upset about leaving Yugi for so long. The little boy cuddled his stuffed animals to himself, giggling. "I'm gonna miss my baby …"

---

The next morning, everyone had assembled themselves outside of the main entrance to the palace, packing a carriage with essentials that would be needed for the long trip. "All set to go." Isis announced. The former Pharaoh shook Atem's hand, who was holding Yugi in his other hand.

"Take care of Egypt while we are gone, Atem." Atem nodded.

"I will, Father." Yugi looked around. He was confused as to why all these people were running around like they had to go potty really badly. He heard his mother talking to one of the other people, but he didn't know why he had to be with Daddy if Mommy was right there. He reached out his tiny arms, wanting his mother.

"Ehh!" He complained. Kiara picked him up and gave him a tight hug and firm kiss. Yugi may have only been seven months old, but he knew something was wrong. Why was Mommy so sad? Kiara was crying as she gave Yugi back to Atem. Yugi whined when he was back in his father's arms. He didn't want Daddy, he wanted Mommy. He squirmed in Atem's arms.

"Yugi, calm down." But the baby wouldn't calm down. He didn't understand why Mommy wouldn't hold him.

"We're ready to go!" Mahad said. Atem gave Yugi a kiss on the head. He answered with a small 'ba' sound.

"Say bye-bye to Mommy, Yugi." He took Yugi's little hand and waved it. Kiara had tears in her eyes as she waved back to Yugi. The baby's eyes were starting to fill with tears. Once in the carriage, the retired Pharaoh, the six priests and two priestesses left the palace. Kiara poked her head out of the carriage and blew a kiss to her son. Atem and Mana both waved good bye to the group while Yugi's eyes filled with tears.

"Well, now what do you want to do, Mana?" Neither of them noticed the baby's eyes filling with salty water.

"I don't know, what would you like to do?" Atem was about to answer when Yugi burst out with a loud cry. Atem moved Yugi to his shoulder and patted his back.

"Shh … it's alright, it's alright …"

"EH HA HA! M'MA!" He cried out.

"Mommy will be back in about a week, Yugi. Don't worry." Yugi didn't stop crying. Mana had to cover her ears.

"Take him to your room!" Atem had to agree. He continued to pat Yugi's back as he made his way into the palace and to his room.

Once there, Yugi still wouldn't stop crying. He kept repeating the same thing '_M'ma! M'ma_!' He missed his mother so much. Atem paced back and forth, trying to get his son to calm down.

"Shh … it's alright, Little One." Atem sat on his bed and cuddled Yugi to his chest. The small boy cuddled too, but wouldn't look at his father. Soon his crying had stopped, but he kept repeating 'M'ma … M'ma …' Atem sighed. No matter what he did, he just couldn't get Yugi's mind off of his mother's departure. A knock came to the door.

"Come in." Mana appeared with a tray.

"Hey, you didn't come down for dinner, so I brought your dinner to you." Atem smiled.

"Thank you, Mana."

"Here we go, chicken for you, and mashed potatoes for Yugi." Atem took a spoonful of mashed potatoes and held it to Yugi's face. He whined and moved away. "No, Yugi you have to eat something." Yugi whined and squirmed, trying to get out of his father's arms.

"Ehhhh!" He was almost out of Atem's lap before he was caught by his father and raised to his lap again. "EHHH!"

"Yugi! Knock it off!" Yugi continued to whine and squirm until Atem gave up and let him go. Yugi waddled out to the balcony and looked at the sky. Both Atem and Mana looked at each other.

"M'ma!" The little boy called, hoping his mother would hear him. Atem sighed and walked over to his son. "M'ma!" Atem picked Yugi up and held him tightly. Little Yugi just looked into his father's eyes with so much sadness, that it broke the Pharaoh's heart.

"Yugi, Mommy will be back in a few days, I promise." The little boy's eyes as he started to cry again.

"M'ma …" Yugi hugged his father. Atem sighed and hugged the child back.

"I know, Little One … I know." He knew that a mother was someone that no one else could replace in a child's heart. Kiara had been there for Yugi since the day he was born.

---

Later that night, Yugi had to sleep in the bed that Atem kept in his chambers, but the baby couldn't sleep. He missed his mother too much. He rolled into a sitting position and stood against the wall of his crib and looked at his father, who was sleeping in his bed.

"D'da?" He wanted out of that bed and to go into his bed in his mother's room. Atem just shifted from his left to his right in his bed. Yugi knew his father wouldn't wake up, so he decided to climb out of his crib. It was a bit of a challenge, but he managed to climb out of his crib with his blanket in hand. He walked past Atem, who was starting to snore. Yugi knew the way to his mommy's room; he went there everyday.

---

Sometime during the night, Atem's snore was loud enough to wake himself up from a REM. "Damn …" He sat up and rubbed his face with his hands. He reached over to his end table for his water.

"Yugi, are you still sleeping?" When no answer came, he thought the child was asleep, but noticed that there was nothing in the crib. He ran to the tiny bed and looked under the covers to find him. "Yugi!" He looked around the room then suddenly, he noticed the door was open … Yugi sized. A thought hit him. "Would he go there?" He raced down the hall and into Kiara's room. In there, he saw a tiny lump in the middle of the bed under the covers. "Yugi?" Yugi's tiny head poked out from under the covers of his mother's bed.

"No M'ma …" Atem sighed again.

"Baby, Mommy and the others will be back, I promise you." Yugi lay down in his mother's bed and snuggled under the covers.

"M'ma …" Atem ran his hand down his face. There was no way he was going to get Yugi out of this room.

"Alright, we'll stay here for tonight." He lay next to Yugi and brought the small, sniveling boy into his arms.

As the week went on, Yugi refused to eat much. He also refused to play. He really missed his mother. Atem was lucky he was able to focus on problems and fix them, but his main concern was Yugi. Nothing could cheer the boy up. He wanted his mother; that much was clear.

---

Finally came the day of their return. Atem was able to get Yugi to eat a few small bites of fruit, but that was it. "Yugi, I have a surprise for you." Once that was said, Kiara entered the room. Yugi's face lit up very brightly with a smile.

"M'MA!" The small boy waddled into his mother's arms and hugged her very tightly.

"Yugi, I missed you so much, Baby!" She kissed him all over his face and he giggled and kissed her back.

"He missed you too. We slept in your room every night."

"What? Why?"

"Because he refused to sleep in my room. That's how much he missed you. Since it's been a week since you've seen him, why don't you take the day off and spend it with him." Kiara smiled.

"Thank you, Atem." Atem nodded, kissed Yugi on the head and walked out. Kiara and was so happy to finally be able to see her baby boy and promised never to leave him like that ever again.

---

_End of Chapter _


	5. The Black Out

_Whoo! It's nice to be back in air conditioning! A massive storm hit last week, knocking out all the power in the city that I'm in. It took all week for the electric company to put back all the power. Not only did the power go out, but the water did too! On the hottest day of the year, there was no water! Can you believe that! So anyway, this chapter is based on my experiances durring that storm.It's all true, except the characters. So enjoy this, and maybe you'll feel my pain. Sorry it's so long, but it's based over a period of three days._

---

Six month old Baby Yugi sat in front of the television screen. At six months, he was able to sit up on his own, but he still could not quite crawl yet. He sat in front of a large television screen with a couple of toys around him; a rattle, a stuffed turtle, and a small bottle half-way filled with juice. A children's show was playing on the screen. Yugi squealed and giggled for all he was worth. Though he did not understand anything the people in the picture-box were saying, he just loved hearing all the sounds and the music. The small baby sat with his legs bent and his two tiny hands on the floor, holding himself up. He clapped his hands, easily entertaining himself.

Yugi's mother, Kiara laughed to herself as she watched her son stare at the TV screen. She knew he did not know what was going on, but he loved to hear sounds. A counter separated the living room from the kitchen, so she could easily watch her baby boy as she washed the dishes. Kiara thought it was adorable how Yugi could find such entertainment in just a few simple sounds. She looked up and laughed as Yugi giggled to nothing in particular.

It was a hot July day. It had not rained in a month and a half. Kiara wiped the sweat from her brow. Even though the air conditioner was working, for some reason, it was not cooling off the house like it was supposed to. The thermostat said that inside, it was seventy-nine degrees, when it was only supposed to be seventy-three. Outside, it was one hundred and three degrees. Kiara glanced at her son, who was still captivated by the music on the TV. Yugi was basically a sick child. He was born premature, which was why he was so small. He needed to be in the air conditioning constantly, at least until he was out of infancy. If he was in the heat for too long, he would suffer heat exhaustion, or worse. The small boy wore only a tiny, thin t-shirt and a diaper. It was too hot for him to wear anything else. Kiara wore a spaghetti strap shirt with short shorts. She sat down on her couch and looked out the window. The single mother noticed that very dark rain clouds were coming in from the north … which was pretty unusual. She looked at the TV. Yugi was bouncing up and down in place, giggling. She picked him up and changed the channel.

"Sorry, Sweetheart, but I have to see what the weather is supposed to be like." Yugi whined from the loss of the music. He heard his mother gasp and looked up at her. She was covering her mouth with her hand. Her sparkling purple eyes held fear in them. On the TV, a woman in a pant suit was in front of a map.

"_Right now, a stray storm is making its way from the north to the south east. Those of you who are in the path of this storm, you may want to move to shelter immediately. This storm has a history of producing large, golf ball size hail and damaging winds up to fifty miles per hour. Now out in the East Coast …_"

Kiara looked down at her son. He was playing with his fingers and babbling incoherently. Yugi was very afraid of storms. Sure, he loved sounds, but loud sounds like thunder scared the poor child to death. Kiara looked out the window and could see that the sky was no longer clear. The dark clouds have moved in. Far off in the distance, she could hear thunder rumbling. Then suddenly, the wind outside started blowing very fiercely. Kiara gasped again and gripped her baby tightly in her arms. Yugi looked at his mother, not sure what was going on. He tried to cheer her up with some cute noises, but she did not even acknowledge them. The mother turned the TV off, grabbed a cordless phone, and went downstairs.

Luckily, her basement was made up. It was like another living room. She had a couch, a TV, a guest bedroom, and a playpen for Yugi down there. She placed her baby in the playpen and went into the other room to make a phone call. Once Kiara was out of the room, Yugi began to miss her. His eyes started to water. Why did Mommy leave him? To make his loneliness apparent, he screamed loudly until Kiara came running out of the next room with her chin holding the phone on her shoulder.

"Shh … Honey, it's okay … shh … everything's going to be okay, shh …" She cradled him in her arms, but Baby Yugi would not stop crying. Something was wrong … and he could sense it. "No Dad, it's just Yugi; he's probably afraid of the storm, I know I am …" Kiara could hear the storm getting worse outside. When the sound of the wind got louder, Yugi's screaming would increase. It was not the thunder that she feared, it was the wind. She could hear it whistling fiercely. Beyond the wind, she could hear the tornado sirens going off. Between the whistling of the wind, the sound of the sirens, the rumbling of the thunder, and Yugi's screaming, Kiara thought she would go crazy!

Then suddenly, all went black. The power had gone out. Yugi screamed even harder. The baby was completely terrified of the dark. Kiara tried to shush him, but he just kept screaming. Hush, Baby, it's okay now … it's okay …" The storm was still raging outside. There were no windows in her basement, so she had no idea what was going on. Going upstairs was going to be a challenge as well, trying to get up the stairs without dropping Yugi.

About an hour later, the storm was over. Yugi was still crying because it was so dark and he could not see his mother. He knew she was there, but he could not see her. Kiara held Yugi in one hand while she felt around with the other. Finally, she reached the stairs. The power was still out, and it was dark outside. A few rolls of thunder crashed every now and then, but other then that, the worst was over. Yugi was still whimpering in her arms, but his cries had decreased. Kiara looked out the window and gasped. It was a wreck! Trees were pulled from their roots and turned over, other trees had their bigger branches broken off, and then there were some that were split right down the middle. A few big branches had hit peoples' cars, roofs, and a few power lines. She figured that was why the power had gone off. It looked like a war zone outside.

That was the least of Yugi's worries. His biggest worry was when he was going to get fed and changed. The storm had scared him so much that he wet his diaper to a point where it was sloshing on him. Kiara laid Yugi down on his back on a blanket she had laid out on the floor while she went to light some candles. Even with a teething ring in his mouth, Yugi was still too scared to be left alone, so once again when Kiara was out of his sight, he cried for mommy again. "I'm coming Yugi! I just went to go get some candles!" The baby's crying stopped when he could see her again. The candle lights helped a bit too, but what Kiara was thinking as how long her sickly child would last without air conditioning?

---

The next day, it was twice as hot outside. Usually when it rains, the temperatures drop, but not this time. This time, it rose even higher. To make matters worse, the power was still out. Kiara paced back and forth with Yugi in her arms, trying to calm him down. He did not like being this hot. She kept sweating. Yugi was only dressed in a diaper. It was far too hot to put him even in a small t-shirt. The mother was at a loss here. No matter what she did, Yugi was not satisfied. A clean diaper would not make him stop crying; neither would his bottles, or his toys. It was obvious that he did not like the heat. She put Yugi in a basinet in the corner, even though he was still crying. Kiara began to sob to herself in frustration. "I know, Baby … I want the power back on too …" Just then, an idea came to mind. She grabbed the phone and dialed the number of her father, Solomon Moto.

"_Hello?_"

"Dad? It's me …"

"_Ki-ki, why do you sound so upset?_" She held the phone out in the air, allowing her father to hear Yugi's constant screaming.

"Does that answer your question?"

"_Why is he crying so hard?_"

"The storm knocked out our power."

"_Ah, so you were one of its victims, hmm? Well let me tell you that you're not the only one. Power is out in most of this town and many of the surrounding cities as well, so it may be a few days before it comes back on._" Kiara pulled the phone away from her hear and whined to herself.

"Dad, I can't take it that long, Yugi can't either," she sighed, "I may already know the answer to this but … do you have power?" Solomon chuckled.

"_I sure do_!" The single mother gasped.

"Really? Could Yugi and I come over and stay the night?"

"_Of course! I would love to have you and Yugi come over! Get that child out of the heat and into the air conditioning!_" Kiara smiled in relief.

"Oh thank you, Daddy! Oh, could you possibly make a bottle of water for Yugi? I know I left some of his bottles at your house so—"

"_Wait, you haven't heard, Dear?_"

"Heard what?" Solomon groaned in frustration.

"Oh_, the storm bust some of the pipes that the city uses for the water._"

"Wait, so there's absolutely no water what so ever … on the hottest day of the year!" Kiara was really getting pissed off now. Her baby needed water.

"_No, no, no. The water is still on, it's just dirty. They told everyone that we have to boil our water for three minutes_." Now it was Kiara who groaned. Like father like daughter, huh? She was relieved that she had not given Yugi any water earlier.

"How could they do that, Yugi needs water!"

"_Well I'll tell you what: go to the store and buy as many bottles of water as you can; we don't know how long this will last._" Kiara nodded.

"I'll do that; thanks, Dad."

"_Any time, Ki-Ki._" Kiara rolled her eyes. That was a name her father had called her all her life.

"Dad, please stop calling me that." Solomon chuckled as they both said good-bye. Kiara went over to the basinet and was grateful to see that Yugi was asleep, even if he was whining as he did so. She kissed him on the head and went up to his room to pack a few things he would need for the night. She did the same for herself.

---

The drive was only a few minutes away. It would have been even shorter, had the stop lights been working. Yugi was still asleep. He had cried for so long that he had worn himself out. In the car, Kiara had the air conditioning up all the way, that way her baby would be cooled off as soon as possible. Yugi was a good boy and slept through the whole drive. In about ten more minutes, the two reached Solomon Moto's game shop. Kiara took Yugi's diaper bag from the trunk. When she slammed it down, it woke the sleeping baby up.

"Hi, Sweetie, did you have a good nap?" Yugi smiled at his mother. She took him out of the car seat as he cooed. Solomon came out and helped his daughter.

"Ki-ki, nice to see you again!" Kiara gave her father a kiss as he took the diaper bag.

"Hi, Dad. Thanks for having us over."

"Of course, I love having you over, I wish you'd come over more often." Yugi took this time to sneeze.

"Bchoo!" Solomon could not help but pick his grandson up.

"It's good to see you too, Yugi!" Yugi giggled. He loved his grandfather very much. He was still only wearing a diaper. Yugi clapped his hands, and while doing so, took a patch of Solomon's hair in his tiny fingers.

"Ah, ah, ah, let go Yugi … let go …" Kiara rolled her eyes and helped her father remove his hair from her son's grip. "A mighty grip that boy has." Kiara bounced Yugi in her arms before giving him a teething ring. He was babbling to himself cutely. Solomon chuckled a bit. So, have you heard anything from _him_ yet?" Kiara sighed and kissed Yugi on the head, right above his soft spot.

"No; you'd think he'd want to know how his son is doing. He hasn't contacted us since Yugi was born." Solomon sighed and shook his head. He hated what Yugi's '_father_' was doing to his daughter and grandson. Yugi's father had not seen his child since he was born. That was the last time the Motos had heard from him. Since then, Kiara had done everything she could think of to try and keep him updated on Yugi's development, but he never responded. After Yugi's first three months with no response, Kiara stopped trying. "I just wanted him to be a part of Yugi's life … but I guess he didn't …" Solomon took his daughter's hand, trying to comfort her. She raised her head, showing that she had been crying silently.

"Baby, if he wants nothing to do with you or Yugi, then that's his loss. Yugi will grow up to be a great person without him." Kiara smiled with tears still flowing down her face.

"Thank you, Daddy …" Yugi dropped his teething ring, trying to gain attention. The two adults looked at him with confused looks, but the baby just smiled and giggled. Kiara and Solomon both followed his example.

---

Later that night, Kiara opened a bottle of water and filled a baby bottle. The water still had not been cleaned, and her maternal instincts told her not to give the tap water to her baby. Yugi loved water, especially on hot days like that day. He finished the bottle in less then fifteen minutes. A tummy full of water also tended to put him right to sleep. He slept in a fresh diaper and a small, thin blanket. Solomon had taken the liberty of putting Kiara's old crib up in her old bedroom. It was an old crib that rocked. It had a mobile on it with clouds, stars and rainbows. Yugi watched it with his large amethyst eyes, seeming to be hypnotized by the circular motion. That, and the melody, not to mention the full tummy of water, put him right to sleep.

Kiara could not sleep. The conversation about Yugi's father got her thinking. Did she give up too soon? She did not think so. He had not seen Yugi at all since the day of his birth. She could not imagine a day coming home and not having Yugi in her life. She sat in a rocker next to the old crib. A few tears fell down her cheeks. She had a father who loved her dearly and continued to raise her even after her own mother died, but Yugi has not seen his father since he was born. Sure that was only six months ago, and he had a job that required constant attention, but that was no excuse in her mind. Kiara had married Yugi's father three years before he was born, but after those three years, divorced him. He was too much to live with. Once the divorce was final, Kiara had announced that she was pregnant with Yugi. He had helped her along the way, but Yugi's birth was the last time she had ever heard from him. Kiara gazed down at her baby in the crib. The pacifier in Yugi's mouth wiggled a few times. She always laid him down on his back, for fear of SIDS. The young, single mother sighed. She made a promise that she would never leave her child alone when he needed her the most. She leaned over the bars and kissed her child on the cheek. Yugi smiled, his pacifier falling a bit out of his mouth. Kiara laughed and placed it back in.

---

The next morning, Kiara was woken by a loud boom and a flash of light. "Oh no … not again!" She thought. She looked at the clock that said it was ten o'clock AM. She ran into the living room to see her father watching the news. "Dad, what's going on?"

"We're getting hit again! Another storm like last night!" Kiara gasped. Suddenly, the lights flashed and went out completely.

"Oh no …" Then, there was a screaming cry coming from her room. "Yugi!" She ran up the stairs and scooped her crying baby into her arms. "There, there, Pumpkin, it's okay now, shh … Mommy's here …" She cradled him in her arms as he continued to cry. The storm had startled him. Now Solomon's electricity had gone out. "Now what am I going to do?" She took a bottle that was already made up and started to feed Yugi. He had stopped crying, but he was still hiccupping through the bottle. Kiara sighed as she sat down, still holding Yugi in one arm. He continued to eat as she wondered what she was going to do. Solomon cleared his throat, gaining his daughter's attention.

"You know, you could always call … him." Kiara's eyes widened as she shook her head.

"No, Daddy, I'm not calling him!"

"But he may have power. He does live all the way out in the country."

"That's just it; he lives too far away! No wonder he never comes to see Yugi …" She looked down at the baby that was suckling on the bottle, growing sleepy. Outside, the storm was getting just as strong as the last one. Solomon sighed.

"Well, it may be a while before my power comes back on; this storm set the electric company right back where they started. I don't think you have a choice." He reached over for Kiara's cell phone. "Call him." Sighing, she gave in, taking the small phone from her father. She had to dial the area code before putting in the number. A few rings passed, and then the call was dropped.

"That's strange …"

"What?"

"It disconnected me. Let me try again. Here, can you hold Yugi?" Solomon nodded, taking his grandson into his arms. Kiara groaned in frustration. "It keeps disconnecting me!" She got up and grabbed the cordless phone, seeing that it did have a ring. She bit her lip before she dialed the number for a third time.

---

Meanwhile, in a county at least an hour and a half away, a young man was feeding two beautiful horses. "Eat up, Gemstone; you need your strength for the trail." The young man wore no shirt, a pair of old blue jeans, black boots, and a cowboy hat. His name was Atem Darkling. He loved the country life, anything to do with horses, cowboys, and Indians. He worked as a sergeant for the county police, but in his personal time, he did chores around his home. He had a large house surrounded by woods. A stable to keep the horses in, a trail that led through the woods, and all the luxuries one would want in life. He lived alone; divorced, to put it in words. However much he loved the outdoors and the country life, his ex-wife did not. She preferred the city while he preferred the country. Sure, he had a lot of animals, he had two horses, two dogs, and at least fourteen wild cats that ran around the woods, but he did get lonely every once in a while. He sighed and went back into the house.

His house was two stories. It a large living area with a fireplace and a dinning room that was like a balcony, looking over the living area. There was a hall if you went past the dinning area (_which he also used as another living area since it was so big_) that had two guest bedrooms, an office, two bathrooms, and a master bedroom. On the other side of the dinning room was a small kitchen. There were western decorations everywhere, and a stuffed bull head hanging over the mantle of the fireplace. A piano, speakers, and two guitars were in one corner of the first floor living area. He had a leather loveseat and matching chair. There was a door that led to another part of the house that a Jacuzzi was in.

Anyway, as soon as he had decided to take a shower to rid himself of the horse stench, the phone rang. When he went to see who it was, the name on the caller id confused him. He had to blink a few times to make sure he was not seeing things. It was the name of his former father-in-law. "It's not possible …" With a shaky hand, he cautiously picked up the phone. "H-hello?"

"_Atem? Is that you_?" Atem's heart stopped. The love of his life that had walked out on him and ended their short marriage … was talking to him after six long months.

"Kiara?" He heard a sigh on the other end of the phone.

"_Atem … it's been so long_." The young sergeant gulped and sat down.

"Y-yes … it has …"

"_Um … by any chance … do you have power?_" Atem thought that was a little out of the blue.

"Yes … why?"

"_Well, we don't. I'm over at my father's and his just went out a few minutes ago._" Oh, now Atem could see where this was going. He smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

"So you just want to be in the air conditioning, is that what you're saying?" He could hear her scoff on the other end.

"_It's not just me … your son needs it as well_." At that last part, Atem's smirk fell and he became serious. He hadn't seen his son since the day of his birth. He thought of the child everyday and always wanted to contact them.

"… How is he?"

"_Not good. He's constantly sick and his doctor says that during this heat wave, he should always be in the air conditioning. Atem, I know I haven't spoken to you in six months, but he's your child too … please … don't punish him …_" Atem had to clench his eyes shut to stop the tears from coming out. He would never do something so low to his own child.

"Of course you can come over. I'll be happy to let you stay." She gasped.

"_You will?_" A smile came to Atem's face.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing Yugi again." He was telling the truth. Though he really did not want to see his ex-wife so early after their divorce, he was dying to see his child.

"_Okay, we'll be over later in about two hours or so_."

"Alright."

"_Thank you_."

"No problem." Then, without even so much as a '_good bye_', she hung up. Sighing, he followed her example. Atem looked down the hall of his house to one of the spare rooms and sighed. He had missed Yugi like crazy, thinking about him everyday and if the baby even knew (_or cared_) that he existed. He decided to take his shower and straighten up as much as possible before the two were expected.

Just as Kiara had said, two hours later, she, Yugi, and Solomon had arrived … but to an empty house. "He did say he would be home around this time, didn't he?" Solomon asked. Kiara sighed.

"This is just like him …" But then she spotted something. On the door was a small post-it note. She got out of the car and went to see what it said.

Come on in, I'm out back.

She picked Yugi up out of the back seat and went around to the back. It was dark out, so it was pitch black outside.

"Hello … Atem?" There was no answer. She could hear the sounds of nature from the woods, but no Atem anywhere. "Hello?" Yugi tried to mimic the sound.

"Ehoh!" He said. Kiara laughed and kissed him on the head.

"Let's go see if he's inside—AHH!" When she turned around, she bumped into someone … it was her host.

"You scare so easily." Kiara sighed in frustration.

"Well when you live out here, anything can jump out at you." Atem took offence at that. This was his home and he was kind enough to let this woman stay with him over night.

"Is that why you came out here? To insult my home!" Just then, he heard a small whimpering noise. He hadn't even noticed the baby in his ex-wife's arms. "Is that …" Kiara rolled her eyes.

"No, this is a copy …" Atem looked at the baby in his mother's arms, sucking on a pacifier. He held a small part of his mother's shirt in his tiny, balled up hand.

"Hello there, Little One … I've missed you so much …" Yugi hid his face in his mother's shirt, not wanting this stranger to see him. Kiara scoffed.

"I'm sure you did … after six months of abandonment and no care whatsoever!" Atem's jaw dropped.

"You think I don't care?"

"If you did, you wouldn't have abandoned us!"

"You kicked me out!"

"Hey, don't bring that up! You could have easily picked up the phone and ---"

"Oh don't give me that shit!" Yugi kept exchanging glances at both of his parents as they argued. He did not understand what was going on, but he wanted it to stop. His parents kept arguing, and he knew only one way to stop it … and that was to cry. He screamed loudly, gaining the attention of both parents.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sweetheart, there, there, it's okay now … shh …"

"Is he alright?" Kiara looked at him for a second and saw true worry in her ex-husband's face.

"Yes, he just hates loud noises." Kiara started to hum a small tune and rock the baby in her arms.

"Kiara, come with me." He walked inside. Kiara followed soon after. They walked down the hallway and came to a closed door. "You think I don't care?" He opened the door. Kiara gasped at what she saw. The room was painted a baby blue with duckling wallpaper across the middle. A large, white crib with a small mattress lay along the wall. A dresser with the picture of Yugi, taken the day he was born, sitting on top of it. There was a toy box filled with baby toys, toys that would make either a boy or a girl happy. A large plush giraffe stuffed animal, with smaller stuffed animals sat in the corner by the white closet doors. There was a mobile on the crib. The carpet was white and a fleece blanket was thrown over the side of the crib. In the corner opposite of the giraffe, an old rocking chair sat, getting older. A white fan, with an airplane hanging from one of the arms, hung from the ceiling. Kiara stepped into the room, not believing what she was seeing. Yugi took a look around the room and was instantly comfortable. He yawned cutely while rubbing his eye and started to fall asleep in his mother's arms. Atem took a few steps into the room, his hands in his pockets. "Things may come up every time I want to call you, but _never_ accuse me of not caring." He stressed on the word '_never_'.

"How long have you had it like this?" Atem took a few more steps into the room.

"Since right after Yugi was born. I wanted to spoil him, but every time I tried to call, something always came up. When it got too late, I figured you'd be angry with me, so I stopped trying." He went over to the crib and ran his hand over the railing. "I come in here every night to think about Yugi." At this point, Kiara felt like a real bitch. She had assumed that Atem never cared for either of them … boy was she wrong.

"I'm sorry." Atem shrugged.

"Don't worry about it; just let me hold him." Kiara smiled and nodded. Yugi's sleepiness started to go away when he felt new arms holding him. He groaned a little bit, but became quiet when he felt how loving these arms were. He looked up to see the new stranger holding him. The stranger had a loving smile on his face. Yugi just had to smile back and snuggle into the new warmth. Atem chuckled and kissed his child on the head. "I've missed you so much." He went over to the rocker and started to rock his child to sleep. Kiara was adoring the sight in front of her. Yugi burbled a bit and Atem responded with by mimicking the sound Yugi made, causing the boy to giggle.

"I'm sorry, Atem." Said man looked up.

"For what?"

"For thinking that you didn't care all this time … it's obvious that you do." Atem smiled. He never thought he'd hear those words come out of his ex-wife's mouth.

"Forgiven; I just wish we didn't live so far away."

"You know, what we never did when Yugi was born was figure out a schedule. Since you live all the way out here, and I do think it's some place where he would be properly cared for, you could take him for about two weeks. I'm trying to get him to eat baby food now, so … what do you think?" Atem had to think for a while.

"Wouldn't he be confused? For a little kid, every two weeks would be too much. As much as I love him and want to spend more time with him, let's say one week a month, and every other weekend." Kiara smiled.

"Deal." While they were negotiating, Yugi had fallen asleep in his father's arms. "Well would you look at that … wanna do the honor of putting him to bed?" Atem smiled as he got up and walked to the crib, placing the baby boy inside on his back. He covered him with the fleece blanket and kissed him on his head.

"Sleep tight, my Little One; I love you." Kiara did the same and told him she loved him too.

---

The next morning, Kiara went to wake Yugi up, only to find that he was not in the bed. Instantly, she panicked. Her maternal instincts were going haywire. She ran to Atem's room to tell him that the baby was missing, but she found that he was as well. The frantic mother hurried to the downstairs living room to find her baby and ex-husband playing on the floor together. Yugi sat in Atem's lap, wearing only a diaper and playing with a small plastic duck and some foam blocks. Atem wore only a pair of pajama pants and sat Indian style. Yugi was playing innocently, babbling to himself.

"Ba ba ba ba ba ba …" He would say. Atem chuckled and picked up a red foam block.

"What can you do with this, Yugi?" Yugi squealed and took the block from his father's hand. He knew exactly what to do with it and where it went … straight into his mouth. "Besides drool all over it." The baby banged the block on his daddy's leg, spraying the slobber everywhere and yelling. He loved having a new playmate.

"BA BA BA BA BA!" Atem couldn't help but laugh. Kiara laughed as well, giving away her position. "Oh, I didn't see you there."

"Sorry. I was looking for him this morning and when I didn't find him, I got scared." Atem kissed Yugi on the head.

"He was awake and so was I, so thought I'd let you sleep in. He's been fed and changed." Yugi looked up. When he saw his mother, his big smile widened even more. He lifted his tiny, chubby arms to be picked up, which Kiara gladly complied. She kissed him on his cheek, making him giggle.

"Did you have fun with Daddy?" Seeming to understand the question, Yugi squealed loudly. "Shh … Honey, you'll wake Grandpa." Atem stood up and stretched.

"No he won't." The mother looked at her ex with a raised eye brow. "Solomon woke up early too. He decided to go and see if you have power."

"And do we?" Atem sighed.

"No, not yet; but he does. So you might be going over there tonight, won't you?" Kiara could hear the hint of sadness in Atem's voice. She bit her lip, feeling guilty about leaving Atem all alone. She looked down at Yugi who was holding out his arms for Atem to pick him up.

"What do you think, Yugi?" Upon hearing his name, Yugi looked at his mother. "Should we go to Grandpa's or stay here with Daddy?" Yugi looked over at Atem and raised his arms, flexing his tiny fingers.

"Ehhah!" He whined in Atem's direction. Kiara laughed.

"Well then, I guess it's settled; we're staying here tonight." Atem's face had a bright glow around it as he smiled.

"Did you hear that Yugi? We get to play some more!" He picked Yugi up and held him in the air, spinning around. Yugi squealed and clapped his hands. Father and son were finally reunited. Kiara watched with a smile on her face, relieved to know that Yugi would finally have a father in his life.

---

The End


	6. Sick Day

_This one really doesn't have a plot, but I just thought it was cute. Okay, I need someone to decide this for me: should I stop making Atem and Yugi father and son and give Yugi different parents, or should I stay with 'Tem? And second of all: I've got a bone to pick with two people who reviewed my 'Where is Home' story! Just for the record, I couldn't care less if anyone read this story or not. Even if everyone told me all of my writtings sucked, I would still post them just because_ **I WANT TO**_. So, if I decide to make that story a romance, (_I don't use the word 'yaoi' or any other japanese words_) don't be threatening me by saying_ 'I'll stop reading it' _b/c I don't care! If I have to suffer w/ all the stupid romance storieswith Tea out there, then you can certainly suffer with my romances! You know who you are, so I won't name names, but reviews mean nothing to me. Sure, it's nice to know that people like my work, but they still mean nothing. I could be the worst writer in the world and I'd still post! Only one person's opinion matters to me and she knows who she is. Whoo! That feels so good to get off my chest! Okay, now I present to you more baby Yugi!_

---

It was a wonderful day outside. The sun shown brightly and only patchy clouds passed by. A young mother named Kiara sat in her car, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. As she sat there, she looked in the rearview mirror to see a car seat, holding her sleeping two month old baby boy, Yugi. Kiara smiled, seeing Yugi sleep.

For the past week or so, he had had a cold and could not … or actually _would_ not sleep at night. Kiara was glad that it was Yugi's father, Atem's turn to have him this weekend; maybe now she could get some sleep herself. Kiara had never married Atem because they did not exactly see eye to eye. He had a job where he worked from home while she spent all her time as a nurse in a hospital. Having Yugi really put stress on her life, but she could not imagine living without him. As soon as the light turned green, Kiara gently pressed the accelerator so as to not wake her sick baby boy. Kiara did not live far from Yugi's father. Only about fifteen minutes away. He did however, have a larger house then she did. While her house only had two bedrooms, while Atem's house had four. It did not matter to her, as long as he proved that he was capable of taking care of their child. She had to give him credit, he did help out in any way he possibly could. Kiara pulled up into the driveway and got out. She opened the door and smiled at seeing her baby finally asleep. She did not have t he heart to wake him up.

"My sweet little angel." She was going to just unhook the car seat when Atem came bursting out of his home.

"Hello, Kiara." Kiara turned around and put a finger to her mouth.

"Shh! He's sleeping." Atem shrugged.

"So?" The mother sighed. She gently unhooked Yugi as he woke up.

"So nothing; he's been sick this week and neither of us have been able to sleep a wink." Atem did not even listen. He was too excited to see his son again.

"Hey, there's my big guy!" When Yugi's infant ears heard the familiar voice, he smiled brightly and signaled for his father to pick him up, which he did. Atem held Yugi in his arms, close to his chest and gave him a big kiss on the forehead and cheek.

"**Atem**!" Said dad jumped when hearing his name screeched by a whinny voice. "Were you even listening to me?" Atem blinked.

"Well, I heard you say you haven't slept all week, and I can tell; try running a brush through your hair once in a while." Kiara growled.

"No Idiot," Atem rolled his eyes as he bounced Yugi in his arms. "I said that Yugi has a cold … and a pretty bad one at that."

Atem gave Yugi a sad look.

"Oh, is that right? Is my Little One sick?" Yugi giggled. "He seems fine to me." Kiara exhaled. She hoped that Yugi would not grow up to be as air-headed and dim-witted as his father.

"Listen; if you take him outside for any reason, I want you to put this hat on his head. It's cold and flu season and he doesn't need to get the flu right now." Kiara put a blue fleece cape on Yugi's head. "Also, don't just put him to bed in a diaper this weekend. I have a pair of pajamas in here that he can wear so he stays warm all night." Atem rolled his eyes once again as he continued to bounce Yugi on his hip. "There should be enough bottles in here to last him all weekend, but I have a bottle full of juice in here too incase he needs it. Check his temperature often because he has had a lot of fevers this week, clean out his nose and ears, and make sure he is never alone."

"Kiara, no need to worry. We laugh, we play, and have a good time; it's like we're father and son." Now it was Kiara's turn to roll her eyes.

"I just don't want him to get any sicker then he already is ..."

"He won't; I promise you. Go on home and get some sleep. You look like you need it." Kiara sent him a glare before she gave Yugi a kiss on the forehead, telling him over and over how much she loved him and left. Kiara drove off.

"That mother of yours has a few screws loose; as a matter of fact, that whole family does." Atem looked down at Yugi who gave out an adorable coo. "Please don't be crazy … please be normal." Yugi giggled, causing Atem to mimic the action. Well, let's get you settled in." Atem said as he took Yugi's diaper bag and walked to his front door.

---

A few hours later, Atem had a screaming Yugi in his arms. The boy was screaming bloody murder and Atem had no idea why his son would not shut up. Yugi clutched Atem's shirt and screamed even louder. Atem was one the verge of tears himself.

"Please, I'm doing everything I can!" The attitude in Atem's voice made Yugi scream even louder. Atem paced back and forth, patting Yugi on the back. It seemed that no matter what he did, the boy was just not happy. He tried to take Yugi's temperature, but whenever he was able to place the thermometer … where it should have gone, the baby just screamed even louder. "What do you want from me!" Atem whined.

Suddenly, Yugi stopped crying and started coughing … a lot. "Are you alright?" Yugi just kept coughing and whining. Atem panicked. He went over to the kitchen and filled one of his son's bottles with water. He placed the nipple near Yugi's mouth, hoping the boy would drink. Yugi accepted the water, but only for two sucks. Yugi cried again. Atem sighed. "Enough is enough!" He picked up the phone and dialed Kiara's number. Ring, after ring after ring … Kiara was not picking up. Atem sighed yet again, bouncing a crying Yugi on his hip. "Well, we've tried your mother … now let's try mine."

The doorbell rang. When Atem answered it, a tan woman with salt and pepper hair was standing outside.

---

"Well, where is he?" Atem took his mother by the hand and led her into his house.

"Mother, I don't know what to do. My kid's never been sick before and I'm running out of ideas. Upstairs, Yugi was in his crib, looking around and cooing cutely. Where had Daddy gone? Suddenly, voices were heard. However, he had no idea what they were saying.

"And his temperature?"

"A fever." Just then Mira, Atem's mother, picked him up. She could tell that just by Yugi's runny nose, puffy eyes and rosy cheeks that he was sick. She rocked the baby in her arms.

"You said you called Kiara?" Atem nodded.

"Yes." Mira sighed. She continued to rock her grandson in her arms, making him feel as warm as possible. "Mother please, I'm desperate here." Mira looked at her son for a few moments before finally speaking.

"Atem, you know that I have always tried to do what is best for you, so now I'm going to do the most helpful thing I can … absolutely nothing!" Atem was taken back.

"What!" Mira cupped her son's face in her hand.

"Darling, you have always tried to run away from responsibility; trying to pass him to Kiara and then onto me. Well now here it is staring you in the face. You need to start being a father and taking care of your son."

"I thought that was what mothers were for." Mira hit Atem on the back of his head. "Ouch! What was that for!"

"Never say that again! I taught you better then that! A father needs to take care of his child as well … unless you want to become like your own father …"

"Good **God** no, that's my nightmare! I could never be anything like **_that_** man!" Atem stressed on the word '_man_', looking off to the side, reliving all the times his father had let him down. Mira was glad to hear it. Atem's father was not a very … good man, let alone a good father. She smiled and held Yugi out.

"Then take care of your son." Atem carefully took Yugi back into his arms, looking at those sad, helpless yet adorable purple eyes. Atem could practically hear Yugi begging him to take the pain away.

---

Later that night, Atem gave Yugi a bath in the sink, making sure to keep him extra warm, and began to feed him with one of the bottles of milk that Kiara had pumped before she dropped Yugi off. The young father had a hard time staying awake. This was the fifth time Yugi had woken up in the last two hours to be fed. But it seemed like this time, he wanted to play. Atem looked down at Yugi and saw a smile form across the infant's face.

"So now you're well enough to play?" Yugi smiled and looked around, cooing for the fun of it. Even though Yugi's temperature was still very high, he would giggle and play as if he were healthy. Atem decided that he would sleep on the couch with Yugi on his stomach. Partly because he was too tired to move, and partly because whenever Yugi was alone, he screamed his head off.

The young father made sure to do everything he could to keep his child warm. He put Yugi in a blue one-piece pajama set, a wrapped him up in a fleece blanket and placed that cap on his head that Kiara was bitching about earlier. He made sure to clean out Yugi's nose, even though it was a fight doing it, and he made sure that Yugi had something to snuggle with so he brought down Yugi's stuffed panda bear, Ping. (_Any of this sound familiar?_) He began to rub Yugi's back in a circular motion and began to hum a lullaby his own mother used to sing to him when he was little.

Upon hearing the humming, Yugi looked his father straight in the eye. When Atem's ruby eyes met with his son's amethysts, the baby boy let out a small approving coo. Atem chuckled.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Yugi smiled and cooed again, drooling all over the diaper bib that Atem set on his chest. Atem chuckled and kissed Yugi on the forehead. He began to hum a little more, and in no time at all, he and Yugi were both in Dreamland.

---

The next morning, Kiara pulled up into Atem's driveway. She was well-rested and ready to handle her baby once again. She knocked on the door but there was no answer. Thinking it really did not matter one way or another, she opened the door and let herself in.

"Hello … Atem … Yugi?" She walked into the entryway until she heard a loud, annoying snore. She followed it to see her child's father sleeping on the couch with the child on his chest. Yugi's small fist was balled up against his nose and mouth. She could not believe that as much of a light sleeper as Yugi was that he could sleep through Atem's long loud continuous snoring. She could not help but laugh and take a picture of it with her phone

"Hey, time to get up." Still, Atem did not budge. She shrugged and harshly flicked his Adam's Apple, causing Atem to cough a choking cough and wake up.

"Hey, what was that for?" He asked, still a little groggy.

"Have you ever heard yourself snore, it's like being in the middle of a rampaging stampede." Atem rolled his eyes.

"If I could hear myself snore, don't you think I'd do something about it?" Kiara smirked.

"No Atem, I don't." Atem rolled his eyes once again and felt a small object squirm on his chest. Yugi was waking up. "How did you get him to sleep?" Atem sat up with Yugi still on his chest.

"Surprisingly, all I did was hum." The mother raised an eyebrow.

"You hummed?" Atem nodded. Yugi's infant eyes woke up. He recognized the shape of his mother and smiled, giving a cute coo. "Hi, Sweet-heart; you ready to come home with Mommy?" Yugi's smile faded as he buried his face in Atem's chest. Yugi's father chuckled at seeing this.

"Well, I think he's made his decision."

"You really wanna take him for an extra day? Are you prepared to do everything you have to in order to keep him alive?"

"All you have to do is pump some more milk and we'll be fine." Kiara glared.

"You imbecile!" She went to go get Yugi's things together. Suddenly, Atem noticed something.

"Hey Kiara, Yugi isn't as warm as he was … I think he's getting better." The baby was chewing on a small foam ball when Kiara came back down. She kissed Yugi on the forehead and agreed.

"You're right …"

"So … can he stay an extra day?" Kiara put her hands on her hips and made her '_thinking face_', as Atem called it.

"Well, alright. But same rules apply. Give him mo---"

"---Give him more water, put a hat on his head and don't let him wander around the house naked … I know, I know." Kiara rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did.

"You know Atem, I've made a decision." Atem was playing with Yugi as she said this.

"Oh really? What's that?"

"Every time Yugi is sick, you're gonna be the one taking care of him." At that, Atem's head snapped up.

"What, me? No … are you kidding!" Kiara shrugged with a smile and walked away. Atem sighed and looked down at Yugi. "… Just for that, you're gonna be sick a lot, aren't you?" The small baby giggled in an innocent way.

---

_End of Chapter_


	7. Yugi's First Halloween

_Wow, I'm doing a lot of Halloween stuff. First I updated, then I gave you a new story and now another update. I can't help it ... I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I couldn't resist with this one. It was too cute to not put up right away. Anyway, I got Yugi's first Halloween costume based on my sister's first Halloween costume. Eventually, I'll have a picture of it up on my art sites, so don't worry, you'll be able to see him. Okay, here's the Halloween addition to _'Baby Tales'_ Happy Halloween!_

_---_

Tonight was a big night. This was Halloween. Kiara Darkling was putting on her make up for her costume. She was wearing a silky long, thin white dress with white high heeled shoes. Her hair was wrapped up in a bun with a headband halo over her head. She had blue eye shadow over her eyes and pink blush with glitter on her cheeks. If you have not guessed it, she was going as an angel. The wings would be put on later. She, her husband Atem and their eight-month-old son, Yugi were going to a Halloween party that Atem's company was holding. Of course since it was Yugi's first Halloween, they were not going to deprive him of Trick-or-Treating. Kiara ran the pink lipstick over her bottom lip and smacked her lips together. There, perfect.

"Kiara!" Said woman rolled her eyes.

"Oh no … here it comes …" the door to the room she shared with her husband slammed open. Atem appeared in his costume. If you guessed that he was a devil, you were right. He had a red cape around his shoulders with the collar coming up to his ears, two red arm decorations on his forearms, a thin black shirt with a silky red vest over it, two rubber red horns that had been glued around his hair line since his hair was pulled back in a ponytail, dark red pants with a tail attached to the back, and pointy black leather shoes. His face, neck and arms were all dyed red thanks to Kiara. She also took the liberty of drawing a goatee on his face. In his hand was a tall, fancy pitchfork … that smoked. Kiara turned around in her chair and laughed at seeing her husband twirling the pitchfork in his hand.

"I got a bone to pick with you." Atem playfully jabbed the pitchfork in front of his wife. After getting over her laughter, Kiara stood up and looked over Atem's costume.

"What are you complaining about? I thought it was cute." She readjusted his collar as he rolled his eyes.

"But don't you think that the smoking pitchfork is a little too much?" Kiara shrugged.

"No, I thought it went better then the other pitchforks that they had." Atem sighed and put it down. Atem sighed again.

"But still, why couldn't we have gone with the theme that I picked?" Kiara was smoothing out Atem's make up as he complained.

"Because your theme involves me wearing a stupid socket costume and you with a giant plug around your waist with a cable to connect us. Not to mention that the giant plug could actually go inside one of those sockets." Atem smirked.

"Hence the reason why it was a set." Kiara rolled her eyes as Atem sighed and sat on their bed. "Well, the sooner we get this damn party over with, the better." Kiara was fixing her hair in the mirror.

"What do you mean? I love it when we go to your Halloween parties."

"Yes, but this year, we have extra weight."

"Oh, speaking of which, you're going to take him trick-or-treating." Atem's jaw dropped.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you scare the neighborhood children with your blood stories every year, and I have to deal with their parents' phone calls." Atem snickered. He did love teasing those kids.

"Hey, it's not my fault that their parents' haven't told them about what goes on inside of them."

"Mommy …" A small voice said from the doorway. Little Yugi waddled in his parents' room wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a white fabric cut into an oval pinned to it, black sweatpants and tennis shoes. His back had two black fuzzy boas, with one white boa in the middle, going from the hood to the bottom of his sweatshirt. In his hand, he had a cookie from the batch that Kiara had made for the party. "Cookie."

"Oh no, Yugi! Those were supposed to be for the party! And how many times have I told you that cookies are for after dinner!" Yugi let out a tiny belch and giggled.

"Daddy!" He threw himself into Atem's arms who laughed along with Yugi and tickled him.

"Atem, don't encourage him."

"What? He's just having fun … right, Yugi?" Yugi smiled.

"Yeah!" Kiara sighed.

"Well, Yugi go get your bucket; Daddy's gonna take you Trick-or-Treating." Yugi's smile widened as he jumped off the '_big bed_' as he called it, and ran towards his own room.

"Yay!"

"Damn, look at those little legs move!" Kiara gathered the glow stick she had gotten for Yugi.

"Makes you wonder if he's gonna be a track star, doesn't it?" Atem nodded.

"By the way, who came up with the idea of making him a skunk?" Atem asked, scratching his neck. Kiara passed him and went downstairs.

"Your mother."

"Oh …"

---

Downstairs, Yugi was over at the door, jumping up and down like he really had to potty with his little pumpkin bucket in his tiny hand. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Kiara came down and started snapping pictures of Yugi, who had to cover his eyes from the blinding flash.

"Whoa, whoa, Kiara … you're gonna make him go blind!"

"I can't help it, he's so adorable!" Yugi tried to reach the doorknob, but was too small.

"Go now!"

"In a minute, Sweet-heart." Kiara put the glow stick around her son's tiny neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, Baby."

"I will." Atem answered. Kiara gave Atem a kiss.

"You too, and make sure you're holding his hand the entire time!"

"I will!" Atem tried to steal another kiss from Kiara, but Yugi was pulling on his wrist.

"C'mon, Daddy!" Atem could not resist anymore so they left. Children were already running around the streets. Atem and Yugi headed to their next door neighbor's house first. Atem rang the doorbell.

"Trick or treat!" He said. He looked down to see that Yugi was staring at him with a confused face. "It's easy, Yugi. You hold out your bucket and say 'trick or treat'." The door opened to reveal an elderly woman.

"Why, if it isn't Atem. Oh, and this must be Yugi! You've grown so much!" Yugi held up his bucket with both hands.

"Hello, Mrs. Vandom; Happy Halloween." Atem looked at his son. "Say 'trick or treat', Yugi."

"Tik-a-teet." He tried to pronounce. Mrs. Vandom laughed at that adorable attempt.

"Oh that is just adorable! Here you go, Sweetie." She put a few rolls of candy into his little bucket.

"Now what do you say to Mrs. Vandom?"

"Tikoo." Mrs. Vandom just laughed, thinking that Yugi was the most adorable little thing. Atem took Yugi's hand and they moved on. The next house had two very large and very mean Dobermans who had almost attacked his small son once … plus the people were really mean, so they moved on to the next house. Atem had to walk slowly so that his son's little legs could keep up with him. As they reached the next house, a bunch of kids were just leaving as they approached. Atem rang the doorbell and once again called out:

"Trick or treat!"

"Tik-a-teet!" Yugi attempted to repeat. Atem couldn't help but laugh. The door opened. A young man in his early fifties opened the door.

"Happy Halloween, Mr. Day."

"Happy Halloween to you too, Mr. Darkling, and what is Little Yugi supposed to be?" Yugi held up his bucket with both hands again.

"Tik-a-teet." He said again.

"He's a skunk." Mr. Day laughed.

"A skunk? You telling me he stinks?" Atem humored the middle-aged man by going along with his lame joke.

"No, his mother saw to it to put perfume on him before we let him out." Mr. Day laughed. This man was so friendly that he would laugh at the stupidest jokes … including his own. He lowered the bowl of candy he had in his hand to Yugi's level. "Now remember Yugi, only take one--- Yugi!" The little boy took two handfuls of candy and put then in his bucket.

"Tikoo." The baby picked his bucket up with his arms and began to walk away. Atem ran after him, trying to catch up.

"Yugi, wait for Daddy! Thank you, Mr. Day!" Atem and Yugi continued around the neighborhood. Eventually, Yugi grew tired of walking and, more demanded then asked, Atem to carry him. Along the way, he began to dig into his candy bucket. "You know, your mother is not going to like you spoiling your dinner like this." Yugi ignored him.

"Candy!" He exclaimed, holding up a cherry flavored Tootsie-Roll. After an hour, and when Yugi's bucket was full, they headed home.

"We're home!" Atem announced as he and his son entered the house. Kiara sat on the couch, reading a book.

"Welcome home!" Yugi ran up into his mother's lap and showed her all the candy he was given.

"Mama, candy!" Kiara made a playful gasp.

"That's great, Sweet-heart. But we're gonna save it for tomorrow, okay?" Yugi was less then enthused.

"No …" Atem came and picked him up.

"Oh, don't worry, Pal. You'll get more candy at the party." Yugi looked at his father with confused eyes.

"Pah-tee?" He had never been to a party before … let alone even heard the word. Kiara giggled.

"Well, we better go now or else we'll miss out on most of the activities." Atem agreed and went for the door.

---

The drive to the party was not that long. They were there in no time. Already, people in all kinds of costumes were dancing to the music. There were orange and black streamers, balloons, and all kinds of Halloween decorations as sounds. When Yugi stepped into the room, he stepped on a doormat that screamed and said '_Happy Halloween_.' He ran and his behind his mother.

"It's okay, Yugi. It won't hurt you. Come on, let's go dance." Kiara took Yugi's little hand and led him to the dance floor while Atem went to go find a table. Yugi did like to dance when he listened to the music on TV. The song '_Monster Mash_' played. (_I couldn't come up with any other Halloween song_) Yugi watched as his mother began to dance. "Come on, Sweet-heart." Yugi looked at all the other people dancing and decided that it was okay. He bent his knees and waved his arms around. "Very good!" Kiara cheered. She looked over at Atem, who as associating with one of his collogues who was dressed up like a ketchup bottle. Other kids were joining the dancing too. Yugi squealed in delight. He was having such a good time. After the song was over, Kiara took Yugi to get him some snacks. She got him some cake, some cookies, a Rice-Krispy-Treat with black and orange sprinkles, and some orange punch. As they sat down at the table, Atem introduced Kiara to the man.

"Kiara, this is Ned Mahon, a colleague of mine." Kiara shook hands with him.

"Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too. My wife is in the bathroom right now, and those two Princess Barbie twins on the dance floor are my daughters."

"Oh, they're cute." Ned laughed.

"Twins are hard. You're lucky you've only got one. Speaking of which, where's your rugrat?"

"Oh, he's --- Yugi? Yugi where did you go?" Both parents were getting nervous when suddenly, Yugi popped up from under the black table cloth.

"Cookie go down." He said. Both Kiara and Atem were relieved. Kiara picked him up and took the dirty cookie away from him.

"Ned, you obviously remember my son, Yugi." Atem said.

"He's grown a lot since the last time I saw him … which was probably when he was born." Yugi took the brownie that he had and hid his shy face in his mother's neck. "What's he supposed to be?"

"A skunk. My mother made the costume."

"Skuk!" Yugi said. The three adults could only laugh at how cute he was. There were a few activities that Yugi won; he won a bottle of bubbles, a toy car and a ghost stuffed animal. He danced with the other children and with his parents again. All in all, he loved his first Halloween. Pictures were taken at the party to remember it. After the party, Yugi was exhausted. He fell asleep on the way home. Kiara and Atem took his shoes off, but put him to bed with his skunk outfit still on. It was the best Halloween ever.


	8. A Tale of Two Princes

_Okay, let me clear something up here: a lot of people are still having trouble understanding that these stories are in no way related to each other. They're all different. Differnt Yugis, different Atems, different Kiaras, they're all different. It's hard to explain, but none of them are related to each other. They're all little one-shots (_although I hate to use that term_). So this one may sound like "_A Child's Needs_", (_and a lot of things are the same_) but they are not related. They are two different stories; I can't stretch that enough. Okay, after a long wait, here's the next story; not chapter. By the way, I do appologize if these stories are starting to all sound alike, I just think that Baby Yugi is sooooooooo cute! I can't help it!_

---

Prince Atem, age twenty-one, looked out at the starry night sky with sorrow in his ruby colored eyes. Atem's father was still the Pharaoh of Egypt. However, even though his son was not king just yet, he was twenty-one; old enough to sire an heir. Atem always said he did not want to settle down just yet. He was too young and just wanted to have fun. However, at the age of sixteen, Isis had taken on a student; Priestess Kiara. Kiara was the understudy of Priestess Isis, the most trusted priestess on the Pharaoh's court. The two fell in love instantly. Now five years later, even without marriage, they wanted to take their relationship to a new level. That one night caused Kiara to become pregnant. However, Kiara had yet to tell her love about her weak heart. Finally, that day had arrived.

It had only been a few hours since, the love of his life, Priestess Kiara, had died from too much stress to her poor heart. The stress was caused from her giving birth to their first, and only, child. Atem did not even get to say good-bye, or that he loved her one final time. A tear rolled down his copper colored cheek. His beloved had sacrificed herself so that she could give birth to his child. She was wiser then any of the priests that stood under the Pharaoh's rule; she knew what she was doing. She knew that she would not survive the birthing process … and she had no regrets. The deceased queen wanted to bring that child into the world. Atem did everything he could to change her mind, but it was impossible. Once her mind was made up, there was no changing it at all. So, both were prepared for Kiara's fateful departure.

However, even though Atem knew it would not be long before the birth of his child and the death of his wife, he still could not fully lift the pain. To add to that pain, the child, a baby boy, had been sick when he was born. Isis and Seto were with the child now, trying to raise his health. That was a dreadful day for Atem. When it was his turn for the throne, he was hoping to have Kiara right beside him. The prince's red eyes turned a brighter tint of red due to his sobbing. Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching him. Atem turned his head to see his father coming to join him out on the balcony.

"I know how much you are hurting, my son." All Atem could do was sigh.

"How could you possibly know?" The Pharaoh glanced at his depressed son.

"Because I lost your mother the same way."

"Perhaps, but I am alive and well; my … son is on the verge of death … and he has not even been alive for an entire day yet …" The Prince dropped his head into his hands. The Pharaoh sighed and placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Have faith, Atem." Atem raised his head just in time to see his father walk away. He could think of nothing but his broken family now. He was so excited to become a father, even if it would cost him the love of his life. Finally picking himself back up, he marched himself down to the healers' chambers.

On the way, he kept thinking about how much he wanted just to hold his newborn son in his arms. There was a feeling inside of him that told him that if he were with his son, then he would be able to help the baby become healthier. Once he was standing in front of the giant doors, it took him awhile to knock. When he finally built up the courage to knock, Priest Seto answered the door.

"Atem … to what do we owe the horror?" The priest asked with a small smile on his face. Atem was not at all amused.

"Not now, Seto; I'm here to see my child." Seto shrugged.

"Fine, come on in." Atem found it strange that Seto let him in so easily. As the adult prince walked in, he could hear the sound of small coughing and cooing. Priestess Isis was holding him in her arms, rocking the small child from side to side. Atem swallowed the lump in his throat as he slowly approached the sad priestess.

"Isis?" She looked up.

"Atem, what are you doing here?"

"I … I promised Kiara that I would take care of our child … and I … I want to start that now." At the mention of Kiara's name, Isis' eyes began to fill with tears again; Atem followed her example.

"It just won't be the same without her, will it?" Atem sniffled and shook his head.

"No … it won't …" Both sobbed for awhile. "Isis, can I please ...?" Isis smiled.

"Of course, Your Highness." Atem led out his arms so that the small, coughing baby could be held in his arms. The baby cooed a bit with his eyes closed as he was transferred from Isis to his father. Atem could not take his eyes off of the little bundle in his arms. The baby's eyes were half lidded as he began to coo in a soft, comfortable way. Atem's heart began to melt. He smiled and leaned down to give the infant a kiss on the forehead. Isis left the prince with his newborn son. Atem swayed to and fro, rocking the child in his arms.

"Hello there." He whispered. The newborn rubbed his eyes with his tiny fist. Atem could not help but chuckle. The baby looked at him in the eye, but his eyes were very sleepy. Atem smiled. "Go ahead and sleep if you want, Little One. I'll be here when you wake up." The tiny baby admitted a tiny smile. "Now … what to name you? Your mother did say she wanted me to name you … I know … Yugi!" The baby did not seem to mind. In fact, he smiled at the name. "Then it's settled … Yugi it is." Baby Yugi cooed a bit before he started to have a coughing fit. Atem felt so bad because he could do nothing while his son was sick. The baby looked at him with sad eyes. It was as if the child was asking his father to take the pain away. Atem's eyes held so much sorrow because he could not help his small, sickly son. "I'm very sorry, my son … but there is nothing I can do." Even though the baby was in pain and had the symptoms of a cold, he still smiled at his father, loving the warmth that the arms he laid in gave. Atem smiled and cuddled closer to his son. Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Oh no … how am I going to feed you?" The baby did not seem so worried about his food source. He just snuggled closer to his father. "Without your mother, there is no way to feed you … how am I …?"

"Pardon me, Your Highness …" Startled, Atem looked up at the voice that had called his name.

"Isis!" The quiet priestess stepped closer to the father and his son.

"I could not help but overhear your crisis." Atem blinked, confused as to what she was saying.

"Oh … uh …"

"I believe I have a solution."

"You do?"

"Yes. I can be Prince Yugi's wet nurse." Atem raised a brow.

"Wet nurse?" Isis nodded with a smile on her face.

"Yes; you see, a few weeks ago, I gave birth to a son." Atem gasped. Isis hung her head. It seemed that talking about this subject was still painful in her heart.

"Isis … I did not know about that …"

"No one did, my Prince." Atem looked at her, clearly asking her why. "You see, I had some trouble while in labor and the child did not survive. He took only three breaths before he died." Tears were streaming down the priestess' cheeks. Atem felt very sorry for her.

"Isis … I am so sorry …" After wiping a tear from her eye, Isis smiled.

"Please do not be; I have already shed my tears over my loss … and with that loss came an option."

"An option?"

"Yes. I am still producing milk. I can feed Yugi until he is old enough to eat solid foods. My baby may have been lost, but now I have an opportunity to make up for it." Atem smiled in gratitude as he sighed in relief.

"You have no idea how much this means to me, Isis."

"It is my pleasure, my Prince." Speaking of food, the small baby was starting to fuss. Now he was hungry. Atem raised his head and smiled at Isis, who smiled back as she took the baby into her arms and exited the room. He was very relieved to hear that now his son could have the food that he needed. Atem really was in debt to Isis. Hopefully, she would come through for him again and help Yugi rid of his illness.

---

Two months had passed. It did not take long for Yugi to recover form the cold he was born with. However, he did become sick very frequently. Sure, most of those illnesses were minor, but as a new parent, Atem acted as if every sniffle was a life-threatening situation. He always made sure he had time to spend with Yugi. The baby loved spending time with his father too. Since Atem's father was still Pharaoh, and he himself only prince, he had a lot of time to spend with his baby boy. Above all, Atem loved watching Yugi grow and learn. The smallest things kept the baby amused. What was very amusing was that whenever Priest Seto was in the room, Yugi would scream his lungs out for his father to pick him up. It had to be Atem; if it were anyone else, Yugi would just continue to scream until he felt that he was in his father's arms. Atem thought that was as funny as Hell. Isis continued to feed Yugi whenever he was hungry. At night, she would hear Yugi's cries and come running to help him. However, most of those cries were not for food; they were for attention. So most nights, Atem would be walking around his room, in circles, trying to get the baby back to sleep. But Baby Yugi would always be playing being wide awake while his father was very drowsy. That was why both slept in very late the next morning.

Atem had been up late again with Yugi. It seemed as if the child preferred to be nocturnal then awake during the day. Being a father was not easy. Atem had to adjust his schedule according to his son's. He was grateful that Yugi decided to sleep an hour earlier then usual. However, that did not last long, since Yugi also woke up an hour early. The adult prince could hear his infant son amusing himself by babbling incoherently. Atem's eyes held large bags under them. He could not get back to sleep while his son was squealing to himself. He groaned, never hearing the knock on his door. He was surprised when Priest Seto came into his room. The priest smirked at the babbling baby that caused his cousin so much stress.

"Aww, isn't that cute?" Atem grunted.

"Cute is a sleeping baby; that baby never sleeps at all."

"And it amuses me so, when he drags you out of your bed at night." Atem rolled his eyes and smirked.

"And it amuses me so, when he screams whenever he sees you." Seto just glared at his smirking cousin.

"Very funny …" As Atem stood up, he stretched.

"What is it that you want, Seto?"

"Your father has called a meeting that you are expected to attend." Atem rolled his eyes again.

"Of course … why else would you be here?" The priest shrugged with his arms still folded.

"Sometimes I just like to bitch at you for no reason."

"The feeling is mutual." He glanced down into his son's crib and smiled at him. "Good morning, my little night dweller; did you sleep well?" The baby giggled and kicked his tiny feet while waving his even tinier fists in the air. The Prince picked the child up and rested him so that Yugi was vertically in his arms.

"Bah, bah, bah … bah, bah, Bah, BAH!"

"Oh, '_bah, bah, bah_' to you too. What are you '_bah-ing_' about?" The baby smiled and bounced in his father's arms. Seto could only roll his eyes.

"Please, can we go now? Breakfast will be served at the meeting." At the sound of Seto's voice, Yugi whimpered and hid his face in his father's neck. Atem chuckled and patted the baby on his back.

---

During the meeting, Atem really had no part, he was just there to observe while the priests and his father chatted about events that were happening in the kingdom. Being bored as usual, Atem watched his child look at everything around him. Yugi made small cooing noises at everything he could find. When he would be too loud, Atem would shush him and the boy would be quiet. Yugi spent most of the time trying to pull Atem's bangs. (_I realize I've done this before, but I really like the idea of Baby Yugi trying to pull Atem's bangs while Atem's shooing Yugi's hand away._) Atem kept shooing Yugi's hand away, but the baby would not stop. He wanted to hear the funny sound that Daddy made when he pulled the yellow strings on his head. The small baby kept giggling as he attempted to pull the yellow strings.

"Yugi, stop it …" Atem whispered. Yugi giggled again as he banged the table lightly with his palms, causing a distraction to the rest of everyone in the room. Atem's copper face gained a tint of red as he could see that all eyes were on him.

"Atem, is everything alright?" His father asked.

"Um … yes … sorry for the interruption, Father." Yugi squealed.

"Ahhyeee!" He continued to squeal. The Pharaoh sighed and shook his head in a disappointed manner.

"Atem …" Now it was Atem's turn to sigh.

"Yes, yes … I'm going." Once he and the baby were gone, the rest of the meeting continued.

---

Outside, Atem walked around with Yugi on his shoulder. He was a little embarrassed over the scene that Yugi had caused, but he could not bring himself to be upset because the child was just so adorable. The child fiddled with his fingers and babbling once again. Atem could only chuckle.

"Well, you got us kicked out of that meeting, Little One." Yugi looked up at his father and cocked his head in a confused way. Atem chuckled again and gave his small son a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you very much for that." Yugi smiled again and squealed.

"Ahhyee!" Finally, they came to the gardens. Atem had set up a small place for Yugi to play safely in. Since the child could still not sit up on his own, he sat in Atem's lap; or rather, he was leaning in Atem's lap. Atem's legs kept Yugi secure as the child played with his toys in the flowers and sand. Atem picked up a small toy and played with the baby too. They were having so much fun. This was what Atem lived for; for these moments where he could just watch his son play without any care in the world. It made him feel so happy to see such a little wonder that he and Kiara had created. Thinking of his son's deceased mother still brought a ping of pain in his heart, but he now saw what Kiara had always wanted. He loved Yugi so much and could not imagine his life without him. The Prince watched as his son took a soft '_teething_' ball and chewed on it, burbling as he did so. That ball had been one of Atem's own toys when he was a baby. His father had pulled it out of where ever it was that he kept all of Atem's baby things. "Does that taste good, Yugi?" The child only continued to gnaw on the ball out of the corner of his mouth.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah …" Drool ran out of his mouth and onto the ball. Atem thought it was so adorable. For the next few hours, they sat there, playing together until it was time for Isis to feed the baby once again.

---

Later that evening, Atem sat on his father's throne with his head held in his hand, listening to Seto bitch at him about his behavior in the meeting. Yugi was in a small play pen, watching the tall man in blue yack about something he could not understand.

"You're twenty-one years old, Atem! Start acting like it! Or, if that's too hard for you, then stop bringing the baby to the meetings!" Atem rolled his bored eyes.

"And leave the baby unattended for? I don't think so! I have to have someone take care of him."

"The servants would check on him when they clean your room!" Atem sat up, having about enough of Seto telling him how to raise his son.

"That is not enough! He needs to constantly be looked after! What if he becomes sick again?!"

"In two hours? I hardly doubt it." Yugi watched as his father and the man in blue argued again. When Atem started to raise his voice, Yugi screamed, wanting him to stop immediately. Ignoring Seto's last rude comment, he rushed over to Yugi's crib to see what was wrong.

"Oh, Yugi, shh … it's alright, Daddy's here …" Atem did not pick him up, just let Yugi hold his hands while the baby calmed down. Seto had to roll his eyes again.

"He's only two months old and he already has you wrapped around his tiny finger." Atem ignored that comment until he spoke.

"Seto …"

"What?" Now was when Atem picked Yugi up and held him at arm's length. The baby wondered why his father was looking at him like that.

"Is it just me being totally paranoid, or has this child not gained so much as an ounce since he's been born?"

"Mostly, it's just you being paranoid, but let me see." Atem cautiously handed Yugi to Seto, who whimpered and whined when he was in the strange arms. "Oh hush, I'll give you back in a second."

"Don't talk to him like that!" Seto held Yugi the same way that Atem did. The baby just blinked at him with an expression that asked '_what are you going to do with me?_'

"Hmm … you're right … he is a bit underweight." Atem began to panic.

"Oh no … what am I going to do? My son is sick again! Do something!"

"Relax, _Mrs. Drama Queen_," Atem glared at his cousin, "he probably is gaining weight, just at a slower rate then normal; much like how he's still too small."

"So … you're saying that he's fine?"

"Yes, he's---" Suddenly, Seto felt something squirting on him. He looked down to see that Yugi peed on him, still being held in the same position with the same clueless expression. Atem had to cover his mouth in order to hide his laughter. Seto, on the other hand, did not find this amusing one bit. He looked at the baby, who held a look of innocence. "You were just waiting to do that, weren't you?" Yugi giggled and cooed. Atem could not help it. He did let out a small snicker.

"Um … want me to take him? It's time for his bath anyway." Seto disgustingly gave Yugi back to Atem, who wrapped the baby up in a blanket. "Nice work, Son." He whispered.

"I heard that!" Seto replied as he tried to clean his tunic.

---

The next day, Atem was playing with Yugi yet again. He held the baby in mid-air and brought him down to give him kisses as the child giggled and squirmed. Suddenly, Seto came in, telling him that the Pharaoh needed the Prince to accompany him to a crisis out in the middle of the city.

"What? He wants me to go with him now?"

"Yes, so get a move on!"

"Um … alright … um … here, you take care of this!" He said, giving Yugi to Seto as the child whined again.

"Wait, why can't Isis take care of him?"

"She's visiting her mother for a few hours. Don't worry, it's simple! Just let him play with his toys and he'll be happy. Here, he likes this ball." Seto looked at the ball in his hand.

"It's wet." Atem was not listening. He had to put his slippers on and get moving. Yugi made a noise that said '_wait, Daddy!_' He held out his chubby arm, trying to get Atem to come back to him. The Prince did so and gave Yugi a big kiss on the forehead.

"I'll be back later, Yugi. You be a good boy for Seto." As that was said, Atem ran out of the room without looking back. Yugi looked at Seto, who slowly shook his head.

"Don't even think about it.

That night, Atem and his father came back. "All that just to find out that it was a market sale gone wrong!"

"Taking care of issues such as that is our duty, Atem." Atem turned to face his father.

"I realize that, Father. But I think it could have been something that the people could figure out for themselves."

"But you did not know that. It could have erupted into a fight." Atem slapped his forehead.

"That's what the guards are for; not only for protecting the palace, but to keep order in the city as well!" The Pharaoh sighed.

"Go to bed, my son. It has been a long day for the both of us."

"Well, my son probably will not let me since he likes to be up at all hours of the night." Suddenly, he heard a scream that sounded like…

"Yugi!" Atem ran to find the source of the scream. He ran all the way up several flights us stairs and down many hallways, turned three sharp turns, that he almost fell over, and finally skidded to a halt outside of his son's room. There, he could see that Yugi was giving Seto a hard time as he was trying to put the baby to bed.

"Come on, it's time for bed!" Yugi scream and struggled, trying to get away. Atem folded his arms and leaned in the doorway with a smirk on his face.

"You're not going to get anywhere like that, Seto." The priest was still trying to keep his grip on the squirming baby as he looked over to his smirking cousin.

"Then how do I get him to go to bed?!" Atem entered the room, still smiling an amused smile. Yugi spotted Atem and squealed loudly, extending an arm for Atem to take him away from this crazy man in blue.

"Give me my kid."

"Gladly." Once Yugi was safe in Atem's arms, or as safe as he felt, he snuggled into Atem's chest and then rested his head on the Prince's shoulder while the father rubbed his son's back.

"Shh … it's alright now, Little One. I'm here; shh …" The baby's cries turned to small hiccups and then downgraded to even smaller whimpers. "Shhh …" Seto was speechless. All night, he could not get the kid to stop screaming and whining. He even went to Isis to see if she could help, but came to no solution. It seemed that the baby just wanted his father to hold him, to protect him. After those few hours taking care of his second-cousin, Seto, at some time, told himself that he never wanted to have children. But seeing the way Atem stood there, swaying from side to side and rubbing the child's back, he could not help but feel a bit of jealousy. "Shhh … it's alright …" Soon, the baby's eyes began to droop. It was almost morning; Yugi's usual time to start settling down. The tantrum that the baby had thrown earlier had nearly wiped him out. It was not long before Yugi was off into Dreamland. Once he knew that his baby was asleep, Atem placed Yugi into his crib and covered him up with a blanket.

"How did you do that? He wouldn't shut up all night!" Atem chuckled.

"It's simple: all you have to do is rub his back. He can not sleep without his back rub. Seto blinked.

"That's all?"

"That's all." Both cousins took one last look at the baby in the crib, who brought his thumb to his mouth and sucked on it.

"Cute, isn't he?"

"I don't even know the meaning of that word, but yes; somewhere along those lines." Atem smirked.

"Oh, admit it! He's cute!"

"Fine, he's … cute." The Priest said, cringing as he did. "However, there's a limit to that cuteness."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because those lungs pack so much power, he could win a war just by throwing a tantrum. Yes, he'll make a very powerful Pharaoh in deed." Seto walked away, leaving Atem with some very interesting thoughts. He turned back to the baby and rubbed his cheek.

"Maybe, but I won't think about that so that I can enjoy these years while you're still young." In his sleep, the small baby smiled.


	9. The Adventure of a MerBaby

_Another Baby Yugi story! This time, we're going with mythology. Baby Yugi's a Mer-Baby! I promised someone I would make this, so here it is! I hope it's as good as the others ... I feel as if I'm losing something in my writing. Well, anyway, enjoy!_

---

It was a beautiful start to a new day in the underwater kingdom of Cyprocia. The mer-people of this wonderful city always got along and were under the rule of the most wonderful king and queen. Their names were King Atem and Queen Kiara. What made the day even more miraculous was the news that spread quickly through the sea, saying that today was the day that the new heir to the Cyprocian thrown would soon be born. Queen Kiara had been pronounced pregnant with King Atem's child a few months ago. He was very excited to become a father. Nothing seemed to rise his spirit more then learning that he had a child on the way. Unfortunately, this was the time that he had to spend on the throne, watching over his kingdom.

The young mer-king had his head resting in his hand, blowing a few bubbles as he sighed. "This should be the happiest day of my life. My child is supposed to be born today, and I'm stuck here, watching over the kingdom!" He began to complain. The king's majestically red tail moved about in the water. He wore a golden crown on his head to symbolize his rank as the king. To his right, a tall merman with a cerulean blue tail. His name was Lord Seto; he was Atem's most trusted advisor and closest friend. He seemed to be the only person who actually would put up with Atem's bickering. At hearing the young king's complaint, the brunette merman smirked in amusement.

"It's the price you pay for being the ruler at such a young age." Atem glared at his friend and clutched his head with his hands as he groaned loudly.

"Grr! I'm going crazy! I need to know how Kiara is doing right now!" As Atem tried to get up, Seto swam in front of him.

"Atem, you know you aren't allowed to leave until a certain time." Atem swam past Seto.

"Who cares?! I'm the King, so I get to leave when I say!" And before Seto could say another word, Atem had swum away. He was a very fast swimmer when he wanted to be, so Seto just let him go.

Atem swam as fast as he could in order to get to the room where Kiara was having their baby. Once he came to that door, he took in a deep breath and braced himself before he went inside. Inside, Atem could see his beloved wife lying on their bed, holding a small bundle in her arms. Apparently, she had already had their child. Kiara had a royal blue tail and decorated with all kinds of jewelry that one would only find in the sea. Atem swallowed the lump in his throat and approached the royal mermaid and the bundle in her arms. "Kiara?" Said mermaid looked up at her husband and smiled.

"Atem …" The king swallowed the lump that was in his throat and continued to approach his wife.

"H-how are you?" He asked. Kiara gave a tired sigh, but smiled nonetheless.

"Tired, but come here; I have someone here that I want you to meet." Waving his red tail through the water, the King of Cyprocia looked to into the bundle of blankets to see a small baby, sleeping while sucking on its thumb. The small mer-child had a head full of fuzz that would shape out to the form of Atem's as the years pass, and a cute purple colored tail. The small mer-baby cuddled against his mother, trying to protect himself in his sleep. He admitted a small, soundless yawn and rubbed his eyes with his small fist. Atem was captivated. He felt such a feeling in his heart that he could not explain it. Then, Kiara shook the baby to wake him up and looked at her.

"Hello, Sweet-heart. I'd like you to meet your father." The baby looked over at Atem and blinked his eyes. Kiara stood up and offered Atem to hold his small newborn son. Atem nodded and took the baby in his arms. Both stared at each other for a few minutes before Atem smiled and gave the child a small kiss on the forehead. At this, the baby squealed in delight. "I have decided to name him Yugi." Atem looked up.

"Yugi?" He studied the name in his mind and then gazed down at the small baby who was looking around, taking in all that was around him. A smile grew on the king's face, "Perfect." The baby seemed happy with it. He looked at both of his parents and smiled. Two loving parents, what more could a baby ask for?

---

A few months had passed since the birth of the new prince of Cyprocia was born. During that time, he made a few difficulties for Atem and Kiara to raise him. The small mer-baby had the heart of an adventurer. Even though he still did not know how to fully swim, he would slowly worm his way around the deep-sea palace. He would disappear from his parents' eyes for a while before someone in the palace would find him. And although Atem and Kiara would lecture the baby about staying around mommy and daddy, the small prince always had a smile on his face. As time went on, the young prince began to discover that he could wiggle the purple fins of his tail. He would wiggle them when he was happy, and when he was being playful. But he still could not swim quite yet … that is, until the day that he fully learned.

It was a quiet morning, or quiet for most of the palace. Baby Prince Yugi was sitting in his crib, entertaining himself by singing one of his baby songs, which just consisted of babbling incoherently. "Maahheee!" He cried. That was the noise he yelled when he wanted either Mommy or Daddy to come in and pick him up. But for some reason, Mommy and Daddy had either ignored his call, or just did not hear it, so he tried again. "Maahheee!" Still, nothing. Yugi was starting to get a little annoyed and bored at the same time. Out of sheer boredom, he started to wiggle his fins, not realizing at first that he was beginning to float in the water. When he did realize this, he squealed and wiggled his whole tail, which gave him more speed. Soon, he reached the top of the crib, but fell onto the ground; but he did not cry, instead, he clapped his hands. "'Gen, 'gen!" Which translates to, '_again, again!_' Beginning to wiggle his tail again, he floated three feet about the floor of his room and swam outside.

The King and Queen of Cyprocia were peacefully sleeping in their large bed. Kiara had placed a pillow over her head during the night in order to block out Atem's obnoxiously loud snoring. And loud he was. How Kiara could stand that aggravating noise was beyond anyone's knowledge. While they were sleeping peacefully, Baby Yugi opened the door. He had no problem opening it since it was open just a crack, which was enough for his small arms to move. He swam into the room and bounced on Atem's chest, causing the merman to choke and then awaken. "Da, Da, Da!" Yugi squealed while bouncing. Atem looked up and was surprised to see his son. Yugi giggled at seeing the look on his daddy's face.

"Yugi … how did you get out of your crib?" Yugi giggled again and wiggled the fins of his tail. The king widened his eyes and sat up. "Kiara, wake up! We've got a jailbreak!" The King took the baby in his arms and shook his wife up.

"Atem, what's wrong?"

"It's Yugi, he finally learned to swim!" Hearing this, Kiara sat up and took her smiling baby into her own arms.

"Yugi, is that true? Did you learn how to swim?" Yugi smiled at his mother and wiggled his tail again. She squealed just like Yugi did, thinking how adorable that little scene was. Atem covered his ears at that, as he calls it, that '_horrible shrieking sound_'. "My baby finally learned to swim!"

"Well, let's see if it's true." Atem got out of bed and swam over to the door. He then stopped and opened his arms. "Come here, Yugi." He smiled again and swam to his father, holding out his own tiny arms. Kiara squealed again. She was so proud of her little boy. Atem gave Yugi such a big hug when he finally reached him and spun the baby around in his arms. "Very good, Little One!"

"EEdeedee!" Baby Yugi exclaimed. Translation: '_I did it!_' Atem laughed and spun Yugi around.

"You did it!" Both parents were very proud of their precious baby.

---

Things were starting to get a little hectic around the Cyprocian Palace. Since Yugi learned to swim, everything had fallen into chaos. The boy had a curiosity the size of the Seven Seas put into one. Anything he could get his hands on, he would take, and whatever went into his hands, went into his mouth; which caused a lot of problems. Being that the baby had more energy then any of the adults in the palace, he would swim off with something in his mouth before anyone could catch him. But when he was caught, and had whatever was in his hand taken away, he would scream his head off until it was given back. When this would happen, Yugi would be sent to his room and would continue to scream until he was given his way. (_Can we say spoiled rotten brat?_)

Atem paced around his room with his hands covering his ears. Yugi continued to throw a temper tantrum after he and his wife had taken something away from their son that he should not have touched. Kiara sat on their bed, trying to find some tranquility in a book. "How can you sit there and read while our son is screaming like a herd of whales?" He yelled, trying to yell over Yugi's whining screams. Kiara just continued to read and flipped a page.

"You get used to it after a while."

"Then how come I can't?"

"Because every little noise pushes a button on you." Atem groaned in frustration and continued his pacing. Suddenly, Yugi stopped screaming. "Shh … listen … he stopped …" Kiara listened, but only to humor her husband. There was a moment of silence and then …

"… … …WHHAAAAAHHH!!" Both Kiara and Atem groaned.

"This is never going to stop …" Atem said. Kiara stood put and put her arms around her husband's neck.

"We have to be stern with him." Atem sighed and hugged his wife.

"Perhaps we spoil him too much." Kiara gave him a look that said '_gee, ya think?!_'

---

Yugi sat in his crib, screaming his head off. Mommy and Daddy were being very mean. All he wanted to do was see what the pen that Daddy uses would taste like, and Daddy took it away. If that was not enough, Daddy also slapped him on the wrist and yelled at him. He was very upset with Mommy and Daddy right now. Suddenly, he stopped crying because of a sound he heard in the distance. From his small crib, Yugi was able to look out the window and see what was causing the bellowing sound. It was a herd of whales. They sounded as if they were singing. Yugi smiled. He loved music, and wanted to sing with them. Without even thinking of the consequences, the small mer-baby swam right out of his window and giggled as he headed towards the heard of singing whales.

---

After the parents could not hear any more noise coming from their offspring's room, Atem and Kiara were finally able to relax. "Ah, peace and quiet never sounded so good." Kiara began to climb on top of her husband.

"Now that he's quiet, what do you say we make a little noise?" Atem liked that idea. Even though he was a mythological creature, he was still a male, and we all know what is always on a male's mind. So he obviously accepted.

---

Baby Yugi swam so fast, that he reached the whales in no time. It was a good thing that it was a herd of blue whales, which meant that they were friendly. The young mer-baby was happy to be with these magnificent creatures. They sang a beautiful song and Yugi sang with them. The whales seemed happy to sing with the Prince of Cyprocia. Of course, Yugi sang a different song, since he still only spoke his own baby language. Suddenly, something caught his eye and he forgot all about the singing. The next thing the mer-baby saw was a school of rainbow fish, they were swimming in circles. Yugi decided that he wanted to join in their circles. Since he had learned how to swim, he took every chance he had to swim.

---

Meanwhile, back in the Palace, the royal couple still had no idea that their beloved son had vanished from the palace. Both Atem and Kiara looked so contempt in their bed together. Kiara had her head on Atem's chest while he had an arm around her. "That was wonderful, Atem." The mer-king had to agree.

"It certainly was. I had no idea how flexible you could be."

"Yeah, let's just keep that between you and me." Atem sat bolted up straight, surprising his wife.

"Shh, listen … do you hear that?"

" … … No …"

"Exactly … why isn't he making any noise?" Kiara shrugged.

"Maybe he fell asleep." Atem stared at his wife, silently saying '_I don't think so_'.

"Kiara, this is Yugi we're talking about; he _never_ sleeps! He has too much energy." Taking that fact into consideration, both parent flew out the bed and swam as fast as they could to their little angelfish's room.

When they got there, they were surprised to see that Yugi was nowhere to be found in his room. Kiara gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Yugi …? Baby, answer me!" They looked all around the room, including the closet. The mer-baby was nowhere to be found. Tears began to form in the mother's eyes. "Atem, here's not here, what are we going to do?" Atem held her in his arms.

"Don't worry, Kiara; I promise that I'll find Yugi, where ever he is."

---

The baby was having too much fun with the rainbow fish to worry about his parents. He squealed loudly when the fish began to swim around him. He loved the colors that they made. He clapped his hands as he giggled. Suddenly, the colors stopped; why did the fishies stop their playing? Suddenly, a bigger fishy was making its way toward them. This fishy was big, and it was grey. It had a fin on its back and looked like it had lots of teeth. Yugi did not know it, but it was a shark. He saw the rainbow fishies swim away from the bigger fishy. He thought they were playing a game of '_tag_', and he wanted to play too. So, he swam with the rainbow fish as fast as he could.

With each passing second, the shark kept getting closer and closer. It ate a few of the rainbow fish and made its way toward Yugi. The small mer-baby just giggled as the shark came closer. He still thought it was a game of '_tag_'. For his age, Yugi was very fast at swimming. He zigzagged a few places, made sharp turns, and even did a few loop-dee-loops, causing the shark to become dizzy and lose track of its prey. Then, on accident, Yugi's purple tail bumped into a patch of coral, and it made him fall to the ocean floor. He cried loudly for his mother when he saw his boo-boo. The blood on Yugi's tail (_right where his knee would be_) let itself float into the water.

That was when the shark located the baby once again. It could see him on the ocean floor, crying over his boo-boo. The shark charged after the baby, who made no move. In fact, the shark was the last thing on his mind right now. He wanted Mommy to take the pain away just like she did ever other time he received an '_owie_'. The shark sped up; it was not going to let the baby get away this time. Closer, and closer, and yet, Yugi did not move. Only a few more feet and

-**BAM!**-

The shark was caught in between a few branches of the coral reef. As the shark continued to struggle for its freedom, Yugi's boo-boo had finally made itself feel better a little bit since it was not bleeding anymore, but it still hurt. He wanted to go see Mommy and have her make the pain go away. As he got up and swam, he limped a little bit, and had to slow down.

"Mama …" He mumbled. Behind him, the shark continued to struggle, but the coral reef was too hard for it to break.

---

Meanwhile, Atem swam around Cyprocia, looking for anyone who had seen his baby swim through. "Please, has anyone seen my son?" He did not need to tell them what he looked like because the baby prince stood out from everyone else. "I need to find my son!" Unfortunately, no one had seen the baby pass by. That is, until …

"Your Highness!" Someone called. Atem looked to see that an older merman with a yellow tail had called his name.

"Yes?"

"I saw your son earlier this morning." Relief flew through Atem's veins.

"You did? Where did he go?" The older merman bowed his head.

"The child was heading toward a herd of whales." The Cyprocian King gasped.

"They weren't Orcas, were they?" The older merman shook his head.

"No, Sire; they were blue whales." Atem let out a sigh of relief. But still, even if they were friendly whales, something that small should not have been around something that big.

"Did you see where they were heading?" The merman nodded and pointed to the north. The King thanked the man for his information and took off to find his baby.

---

Little Yugi was getting scared. This he could not find his way home, and these mer-people looked really mean. "Mama?" He asked a mermaid that he saw. He wanted to ask if anyone had seen his mother, but everyone either ignored him, or told him to watch where he was going.

"Go home, Kid. Go see your mother." The mermaid said as she swam away. Yugi began to whimper sadly as tears filled his eyes. He was so far from home, and his tail was really starting to hurt him; plus, he was also tired. The poor mer-baby was so scared, and so alone. He did not want to stay around these scary people, so he scurried up towards the surface.

"Yugi! Yugi, where are you?!" Atem called out. He had found the herd of whales, but the child was nowhere to be seen. He wanted to ask the whales where his baby could have gone, but he was rusty on the Blue Whales' language. Soon, he found himself in a creepy town known as Loner's Trench. The town was given that name because trenches surrounded it. Anyway, this was where Atem decided to continue his search.

"Has anyone seen a child? A baby with a purple tail and hair like mine?" The townspeople either told him to shut up or get out of town. "Please, I'm begging you! There's a reward!" Not even that raised the attention of the rude townspeople. Suddenly, there came a scream coming from somewhere near the surface.

"I know that scream … YUGI!" The King of Cyprocia swam to the surface as fast as he could. When he neared to where the screams were coming from, he gasped at what he saw. He could see his baby son caught in a human's net. "Oh no, Yugi!" Luckily, the baby heard his name being called and spotted his father. Reaching out a chubby little arm, he screamed for Daddy as loud as he could.

"Da!!!!!!!!!" Atem had to increase his speed, since the human net was being lifted too fast. Atem reached for his son.

"Don't worry, Yugi! It's going to be alright!" They were so close, only fingertips away from each other when the net finally left the water. "NOOO!!!!"

Above the surface of the ocean, a ship that was full of human fisherman was congratulating each other on how big their catch was.

"There's a whopper in this one!" One of the humans said. Atem came up to the surface, for the first time, I might add, and watched as his baby struggled to both get out of the net and breathe at the same time.

'_I have to get him out of there before the humans see him … but how?_' He thought to himself. "But How?" He sat down on a rock, but on top of someone sharp. "Ouch!" When he stood up, rubbing the back side of his tail, he saw that it was a very sharp, broken shell. He picked it up, making sure to be very careful with it. "Perhaps I can use this to cut the human net and set my son free." Without wasting another second, the petrified father swam quickly towards the surface. He peeked his head just above the water, making sure that the humans could not see him. He gasped as he saw his small son, being lifted further and further away from the water. The small baby was gasping for breath. '_He needs to get back in the water._' Suddenly, the humans began to yell.

"Hey, Bob, come look at this?" Another human joined the one that was so close to Atem's son.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but it's purple. I've never seen a fish with that bright of a purple color before." Atem gasped. He had to move quickly! He threw the sharp broken shell as if it were a dart and aimed for the net. Perfect aim! It cut the net just in time, but the fisherman panicked and started to gather up all their fish before they lost it all.

"Hey Murray, you'll never guess what your '_purple fish_' is!" Atem's eyes opened wide. One of the humans had grabbed Yugi by the tail and was holding him upside down.

"You gotta be kiddin' me! No way that's a mermaid!" Not only was Atem scared, but he was also a little pissed off at the humans for treating his son so horribly. "How much do you think we can get for this?" Yugi was struggling to be let go and screaming his tiny heart out. The humans paid no attention to the little mer-boy's struggling.

"Who knows? I'd say we're gonna be rich! We actually captured a mermaid!" Yugi continued to scream for his life. The two humans laughed like maniacs when all of a sudden, a tremor ran through the ship.

"What was that?" The one holding Yugi upside down asked. It happened again. This time, Yugi was starting to get a little worried. The other human looked over the opposite side of the ship.

"It's a bunch of whales! They're trying to flip us over!" The Blue Whales bumped their heads against the side of the fishing ship as they attempted to free Baby Yugi from those awful humans. Finally, with one final mighty push, the human's grasp on Yugi's tail lifted and the mer-child flew through the air.

"No!" The humans yelled. Yugi continued to fall closer and closer towards the surface of the ocean, screaming the whole time. Unexpectedly, right before Yugi hit the water, Atem jumped out of the water and caught his falling son.

"Gotcha!" He said, and then fell right back into the ocean. As Atem swam a little deeper with Yugi in his arms, they both watched as the whales continued to attack the human ship until it finally flipped over and the humans were floating along the surface.

Once their mission was completed, the whales gazed at Atem and Yugi. Atem smiled and nodded his head.

"Thank you." The giant whales gave a sound that sounded as if they were saying '_your welcome_' before they swam away. Atem looked at his son, his eyes still filled with worry and a bit of relief. "Yugi," Hearing his name, the baby looked into his father's eyes, "Are you alright?" Yugi just smiled and wiggled the fins of his tail. Atem wanted to yell and tell Yugi to never scare him like that again, but all he could do was let out a sigh of relief and hug the baby as close to him as he possibly could. "Thank Poseidon you're safe." Yugi hugged his daddy back, so happy to see him.

---

Back in the Cyprocian Palace, Kiara would not leave her room, too worried about Yugi and Atem to think of anything else. She had not stopped crying the entire time Atem had been gone. Seto was trying to calm her down, but he was having no luck.

"Your Majesty, you must calm down. If Atem says he'll find your son, then he will." Kiara wiped her eyes with a cloth and looked out upon her kingdom from the balcony.

"I don't doubt Atem's ability to keep his promises, but as his wife, and Yugi's mother, I can do nothing but worry." Seto exhaled in frustration.

"I give up!" He left the room. Kiara did not look away from the balcony. She prayed to Poseidon that her husband and son were safe. Little did she know that the objects of her worry were watching her from the doorway. Atem smiled and then whispered something into Yugi's ear. The baby smiled and wiggled his way towards his mother.

Kiara had no idea that they were even there. She continued to watch through the balcony. "Please come home safe, my boys …" Yugi smiled.

"Mama." Kiara did not hear his small voice.

"I miss my baby so much that I'm hallucinating, hearing his voice …" Atem silently snickered from his spot in the doorway.

"Mama!"

"Wait, that was no hallucination," She looked behind her to see Yugi holding out his tiny arms, expecting her to pick him up, "Yugi!" She scooped up her baby so fast, that Atem almost missed it. Kiara continued to cry, only now they were tears of joy. She kissed Yugi all over his face and squeezed him tight, as if she were never going to let him out of her sight ever again.

"I am never letting you out of my sight ever again!" Yugi smiled and squealed in happiness. He was so happy now that he was back in Mommy's arms.

"Hey, I'm fine too, you know." Kiara laughed with tears falling down her face.

"Of course, I missed you too." Atem went over and gave his wife a kiss. "So, where was he?" Kiara asked as she cradled Yugi in her arms, gradually lulling the baby to sleep. Atem's eyes widened. There was no way he was going to tell Kiara about Yugi's encounter with humans. As much as he feared humans, she feared them even more.

"Oh, uh ,,, he was just playing at the local school of flounder." Kiara seemed to not notice his answer as she continued to snuggle with the sleepy mer-baby in her arms.

As Yugi floated into dreamland, he smiled because his thoughts were of his adventure and how happy he was to be home.

---

End of Chapter


	10. My Little Brother

_Okay, here's a change of pace: in this one, Atem and Yugi are brothers! I know I don't ususally do this because I hate doing it, and while writing this, I remembered exactly why, I just thought that I'd try something new. Plus, just the way Yugi pronounces Atem's name was just too cute to not put up; but don't expect me to make them brothers again for a good long time! I don't like it! But, here it is anyway._

---

Pharaoh Aknonkonan held his ten-year-old son, Atem close. His wife, Queen Mira, had just died from blood loss. She was carrying their second child. Unfortunately, the Queen had died before she was able to give birth to the baby. Aknonkonan's most trusted priests were now trying to remove the baby from the dead woman's body. Both father and son were very depressed and worried. Prince Atem was very close to his mother, and when she and his father told him that he was going to be a big brother, he could not wait to have a younger sibling to play with.

"Father, what's going to happen to the baby?" Aknonkonan gazed at his son with sadness in his eyes.

"I have no idea, my son." He just held Atem tighter as both shed tears of sorrow. Suddenly, Priest Mahad appeared in front of them, hanging his head.

"Your Majesties, I have some good news and some bad news." Aknonkonan looked at the priest with hopeful eyes.

"What is it?"

"The good news is that the child survived; congratulations, Your Highness, you have another son." Relief washed over both Atem and his father. Atem was so happy. He had a little brother to play with. "The bad news is that he was born with an illness." The wave of relief that the two royals felt soon lifted.

"How sick?" Atem asked. Mahad hung his head yet again.

"It may be fatal." Both of them gasped. Atem had just lost his mother; he was not sure that he could handle another loss. And neither could his father.

"Can we see him, Mahad?" The priest nodded and gestured to them to follow him. Once inside the room where the baby was being kept, the Pharaoh and the Prince both walked up to Priestess Isis, who was currently holding the small bundle of job in her arms. Atem listened carefully to the uncomfortable cooing of his newborn baby brother. Isis turned around with a sad smile on her face.

"My Pharaoh and Prince … would you like to see the newest member of your family?" Aknonkonan smiled and held out his arms. Isis slowly and carefully gave the bundle in the blanket to the king. Aknonkonan felt happy and sad at the same time. The child had his mother's eyes, and had hair that looked as if it would grow out to look like his older brother's. However, the baby's eyes held tiredness and pain in them. The Pharaoh felt so sad for his small son. The baby was, in fact, very small; probably only the size of his forearm.

"Father, may I hold him?" Atem asked. Aknonkonan shifted his gaze from his oldest son to his youngest. The baby seemed to take in slow, deep breaths. His eyes were half-lidded and he hardly moved.

"Of course, Atem; just be very careful with him." Atem nodded as the father allowed his two sons to meet for the first time. Atem looked at those adorable, pain-filled eyes and could not stop a tear from falling down his cheek.

"Hi there, I'm your big brother." The Prince whispered. He leaned down and gave a kiss to the infant's forehead. Suddenly, the child's mouth formed a small smile as those large, soft, purple eyes landed on Atem's red ones. Both brothers looked at each other until the baby smiled, causing Atem to smile as well. While his sons were becoming acquainted with each other, the Pharaoh could not stand to look at another member of his family slowly fade away. Without saying a word, he began to walk away. "Father, where are you going?" Aknonkonan stopped at hearing Atem's voice, but did not turn around.

"I am going to bed now. Make sure you do not drop him." Atem did not understand why his father refused to stay with him and make sure that the baby was going to be alright.

"What about giving him a name?"

"I will leave that to you." Then he was gone. Atem sighed. He looked at the baby in his arms when he heard a small, but loose cough that sounded very painful.

"Don't worry, I promise that I'll take care of you … Heba … yeah, that'll be your name … Heba." The older sibling gave his younger sibling another kiss on the forehead before Isis came back and took the baby from him.

"You may go to bed now, my Prince." Atem smiled and shook his head.

"No, I promised him that I would take care of him, so I'm staying." Isis smiled and allowed him to stay. The ten-year-old Prince did not leave his baby brother's side at all.

---

Seven months passed since the birth of Prince Heba, and things were spiraling downward for the royal family. The Pharaoh hardly spent any time with his boys. In fact, he began to yell a lot more and seemed to always be on edge. Atem kept the promise to Heba and always took care of the small child. The two were closer then close. Heba's young mind saw Atem as the role of his father more then his brother. He knew what Atem's role was, but the older sibling was raising him more then their own father. As for the baby's health, it had its ups and downs. He would come down with a strange and painful illness, and then gradually get better. However, with each illness that he contracted, they seemed to last longer and longer. Atem was always there for his brother, always there to care and comfort the baby. It almost became a patterned, but Atem was always worried.

"Ti-ti pay?" Heba's little voice asked. The baby sat in his room on the floor, wearing nothing but a diaper. He needed to stay in his room because he was recovering from another illness. The child led up a block with his small, chubby arms, asking his older brother to play with him. Atem smiled.

"Sure, I'll play with you." The older joined his brother on the floor and played with the blocks. "Having fun, Heba?" Heba giggled a little.

"Ti-ti pay!" Atem had to laugh at the way his brother could not pronounce his name.

"That's not my name, my name's '_Atem_'. Can you say '_Atem_'?"

"Ti-ti!" Heba continued to say while clapping his hands. Atem shrugged. He knew Heba would learn how to say his name soon. Heck, he could barely say his own name; he called himself '_Ba-ba_'. He only heard the '_ba_' part in his name, so that's what he called himself. The two brothers continued to play with Heba's blocks for a few minutes. Every once in a while, Heba would have a coughing fit and scare the crap out of Atem. Heba looked at Atem with pained eyes.

"Owie …" The older smiled in sympathy.

"I know, I know it hurts, Little One." He reached over and brought the child into his lap, wrapping the baby's favorite blanket around him. He began to rock his younger brother to sleep. It was soon that the baby drifted into dreamland. As he did, Atem laid Heba in his crib, surrounding him with many blankets. Even though it was always so hot and try in Thebes, Egypt, Heba always seemed to be cold. Atem smiled and brushed a few bangs out of Heba's face.

"ATEM!" Said Prince cringed when he heard that constantly angry voice call his name.

"Uh oh …" He dreaded hearing that voice. It meant that either he or his brother was going to get hurt. He just hopped that their arrogant father would not wake the sick child up. Suddenly, the door to Heba's nursery slammed open. Atem wanted to stand strong for his brother, but on the inside, he was downright terrified.

"You were supposed to be downstairs getting ready for tonight's ball!" Atem cringed again.

"I was, Father, but Heba needed me." Excuses just made Aknonkonan even angrier. He raised his hand back and loud slapping sound was heard as his hand came in contact with Atem's face. The harsh impact caused the Prince to lose his balance a bit and leave a deep red mark on his cheek.

"No excuses! What that boy needs is for you to stop babying him!"

"But Father, he _is_ a baby …" The Pharaoh slapped his son's other cheek this time and caused Atem to fully fall onto the ground. In his crib, Heba pretended to be asleep. As scared of their father as Atem was, Heba was twice as horrified. Heba never knew the gentle side of their father like Atem did. The day their mother died was when Aknonkonan began to take his anger out on his sons. He spanked and slapped Heba all the time, but Atem would always get the harsher punishment because he did not want Heba to suffer what he did. Atem received another beating for speaking out of line. Heba whimpered as he tried to cover his ears.

"I do not want to hear any more of your excuses! Get back to your duties **this **_**instant!**_" The Pharaoh left, slamming the door on his way out. Atem spat up a bit of blood as he tried to pick himself up.

"Ti-ti …?" He heard a small voice whisper weakly. He looked over to see that Heba was awake and reaching for him.

"Heba, what are you doing awake? You need to get some sleep."

"Eh!" Heba whined and would not stop until Atem had picked him up. Atem smiled, even though it hurt doing so.

"Sorry, Squirt, I need to go get ready for tonight's dinner. There are a lot of important people coming tonight." All Heba did was blink his adorably large eyes. "You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" Heba reached out for Atem again.

"Up, up!" It pained Atem to leave his brother so soon, but he had to go get ready for the dinner since he did not want to be beat again. As he left and closed the door, Heba continued to call to him, wanting his big brother to come back. "Ti-ti!" Atem walked away from the nursery with tears in his eyes. He could not stand the sad tone in the baby's voice. That, and he had no desire whatsoever to go to this dinner. Sure, there were going to be a lot of people there, but those people were all snobs, and their kids were too. Atem was forced to socialize with them, but he never realty wanted to. To him, they were all snobs and could use some of the treatments that his father gave to him and Heba. Speaking of the baby, Atem was hoping that his little brother was not too upset about his leaving.

---

In the nursery, Heba cried to himself for a few minutes. Why had Ti-ti left him? He always spent that time with him. "Ti-ti …" He mumbled to himself. Wobbly, he picked himself up from the floor and wobbled over toward his bed. He was too small to reach the bed itself. "Ehh!" He whined. After a few minutes of trying, the small seven-month-old pouted and then started a coughing fit. This one was beginning to really hurt. And so was his head. "Owwie …" His tiny body began to feel random pains all over. This happened a lot, but that did not make it any easier on him each time they happened. Heba was in pain … and lonely. He wanted his brother, and by Ra, he would see his brother!

Placing both hands on the floor, he lifted his bottom and then stood his upper body up before beginning to waddle slowly over to the door. However, he was too short to reach the knob. Taking the small tub he used for his baths, he turned it over and placed it by the door. It hurt to step on the tub, but it worked. He was able to reach the knob and turned it. Finally achieving his little goal, he climbed down from the tub and waddled his way down toward the main hall of the palace.

---

Down in the main hall of the palace, a quiet banquet was going on. There were people from all over the world attending it. Some from Rome, some from Greece, even some as distant as from China, Japan, and even the Celtic lands. (_Hey, it's a story; it's not supposed to be geographically or historically correct, so get over my mistakes!_) Anyway, Prince Atem found himself gazing at the unique designs on the walls of his home, trying desperately to ignore the chitter-chattering of the other Princes sitting at his table. The tallest boy had brunette hair with brown eyes. He was the Prince of Greece, Hector. Another was another brown haired boy named Augustus, Prince of Rome. There were two Asian boys as well, but Atem could not tell which one was from China and which one was from Japan. He really wanted nothing to do with these boys, but he had a choice: it was either put up with them, or get a beating.

"And then I told him to take it back, because he didn't get my order exactly right!" Augustus said. The other boys agreed with him.

"I would have done the same thing; Mother and Father always say that the best things in life are meant for me." Hector added. Atem rolled his eyes. The phrase '_spoiled rotten brats_' kept running through his head.

"So, Atem, what have you been up to?" Atem opened his mouth and was about to tell these brats off when a small voice interrupted him.

"Ti-ti!" Atem and the rest of the boys looked behind them and saw little Heba, trying to hide behind a pillar. Atem gasped and got up to help his little brother.

"Heba, what are you doing here?" Heba quickly wrapped his arms around Atem's neck and simply refused to let go.

"Ti-ti!" Atem could not do anything but hug his brother back.

"You know you're not supposed to be down here …"

"Owwie …"

"I know you're sick, that's why you can't come down here." Heba was not listening. He just continued to hold onto Atem's tunic in a tight grasp.

"What's with the wimp?" A voice from behind the two brothers asked. Atem turned to see that the rest of the boys at his table were making fun of his younger brother.

"Yeah, why don't you go back to beddy-bye land." Laughter was heard, and Atem's glare deepened.

"I hear he's diseased, so don't get too close to him." Atem was really getting angry now. _**No one**_ talked about his little brother that way. Heba hid his face in Atem's tunic.

"He's so disgusting!"

"Yeah, he'll never be a real prince!" The boys all started to laugh. Atem's blood was boiling.

"**ENOUGH!**" The boys all quit talking at that moment. Heba looked up with those impossibly large amethyst eyes and tilted his head a bit, wondering why 'Ti-ti' was so upset. "How dare you say that about my brother, in his own house!" Atem's fellow princes were at a loss for words; that is until Augustus spoke up.

"Why are you so concerned about that brat?" Atem's ruby eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets.

"He's the brat?! Better take a good look at yourselves! Just so you know, you're the brats around here! Thinking that everything should be made for you … pathetic!"

"Hey, we were just messing around!" Atem glared at the other boys and picked his brother up.

"It's not funny when only one person is laughing. Say what you will about my, but do _not_ insult Heba." And with that, He walked off, not caring about what his father will do once he figured out that he had left the dinner. Heba took this time to stick his tongue out at the other boys before they disappeared behind the wall.

---

Atem was still a little uneasy while waiting for his father to figure out that he was nowhere near the dinner, but he decided to enjoy this time that he spent with Heba. He helped Heba take a bath, which Atem ended up taking too since the baby loved to splash his older brother all the time. He laughed along with the small child. Heba always had a smile on his face; no matter how terrible he was feeling.

"Hey, the water is supposed to stay in the tub, Heba!" Heba giggled and splashed Atem again, who splashed Heba in return. Heba waved his tiny arms, causing even more splashing.

"Ti-ti wet!" Atem laughed.

"Ti-ti wet because you splashed him." Heba splashed around in the tub again.

"Wet, wet!" Heba continued to giggle right before he started a coughing fit that had Atem reaching his hand up to the baby's forehead to check his temperature. Heba's temperature was very warm, even if the child did not show it. So, as much fun as Atem was having, he had had enough of being soaked for one day. He took his shirt off so that it could dry, and wrapped a blanket around his brother, drying him off.

"Well, now that we're clean, how about we get to bed, hmm?" Heba, with his head wrapped in the blanket like a hood, looked up at his older brother and whined.

"No bed ..." Atem smiled; he was expecting that. Heba always said that about going to bed. He spent most of his days in bed because of his illnesses, and had he was usually wide awake when it came time to go to sleep.

"Yes, bed. Don't worry, I'll lay down with you until you fall sleep." Heba rubbed his eyes with his small fist. He was more tired then he realized. He began to cough again, and this time, a drop of red liquid dribbled its way down the baby's lower lip. That did not go unnoticed by Atem, who began to panic when Heba started to bleed. However, the baby paid no attention to the blood, he curled up into Atem's chest and began to fall victim to the sandman. "Heba, do you want to go see Isis before you go to bed?" Heba did not answer, he was sound asleep. Atem could hear the baby's heavy breathing, and it sounded as if the child was having a little difficulty. The older brother walked down the long hallway, carrying his brother in his arms.

Once he finally reached Isis' room, she began to yell at Atem about how vital it was for Heba to stay in bed, but Atem was not listening. All he wanted was for his brother to feel better.

"My Prince, why did you remove him from his room in the first place?"

"I didn't, he left." Isis put her hands on her hips, looking at the older prince as if she did not believe him.

"I find that a bit impossible since he is too small to reach the door handle." Atem sighed.

"I don't care if you don't believe me; I just want you to make him feel better!" Isis held out her arms and Atem gave Heba to her. The High Priestess lay the baby prince on her bed and felt his forehead.

"His temperature has risen a bit." Atem bit his lip from worry.

"What do we do?"

"First, we relax; this worry is not going to help Heba get any better any faster." Hearing this, Atem took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Good, now go get me a bowl of water along with a damp cloth." Atem nodded and did as he was told. He came back with a small clay bowl and a small cloth soaking in it. Isis took the cloth and dabbed Heba's forehead with it.

"Isn't there some kind of medicine you can give him?" Isis shook her head.

"No, Atem. I just gave him some herbs earlier today. They could take a while to start their effect; you just have to be patient."

"What if Heba doesn't have time for me to be patient?"

"Have faith, Atem." After that, Atem said no more. He just let Isis do her job and watched over the baby. He ran his fingers through Heba's hair and smiled at him.

"… Ti-ti …?"

"Yeah, I'm right here, Heba …" Heba's red face formed a smile. The small baby reached up and held his brother's hand.

"… My Ti-ti …" Atem lied down on the bed next to his brother and began to rub his cheek.

"My Heba …"

---

The next morning, Atem was rudely awakened from a nice, peaceful sleep when he felt something, quite large, flop down on his stomach, admitting an 'oomph!' sound from him. "Hey, what the--?!" When he looked up, he saw Heba, smiling and sitting on his stomach.

"Ti-ti!" Atem sat up, causing Heba to slide off of him, down to the bed.

"Heba, are you okay?" Heba giggled and clapped his hands together. Atem checked his brother's temperature, and it seemed to be fine right now.

"I guess that medicine that Isis gave you worked after all." Heba smiled and sniffled. That surprised the older a bit, but he guessed it was just what was left over from Heba's illness.

"Ti-ti pay!"

"Heba, you still need to take it easy, why don't we go play in your room?" It was just when he said this that he realized that they were still in Isis' room. Heba jumped up from the bed and waddled over to the door, jumping up and down like a dog begging to go outside.

"It's so good to have you back, Squirt!" Heba continued to jump up and down.

"Pay, pay!"

"Okay, okay, we'll go play." Atem opened the door and Heba waddled out of the room. His tiny feet moved very fast as he made his way down to his own room. Atem was so glad that his brother was no longer sick, but he knew it would not be too long before then next one. He also knew that no matter how sick Heba became, he would always look out for his little brother.


	11. Baby's First Vacation

_This next little story is based on my recent trip to Ft. Myers, Florida. In this one, Yugi is a year and a half hold, so he's at the age where he's learned how to walk but is still not very good at it and he still speaks 'baby talk' too. So, that should get everyone up to speed for this one. Here ya go, enjoy!_

---

"How did I let you talk me into this? Atem Moto asked his wife, Kiara as they now entered the sixth hour of their eighteen hour drive to Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

"Because you wanted to go on vacation, and I suggested Florida." Atem rolled his eyes.

"But why to a no-where place like Ft. Myers? Why not someplace cool like Miami or Orlando?"

"Because my father is the president of the Mariner's Boat House, which is where we're staying and because of that, we get a discount for staying there; now I don't want to hear another word about it!"

"But"---

"Ah, ah!" Kiara raised a finger at her husband.

"But"---

"Ah!" Atem sighed.

"You know, you better cut that out or you're going to wake up the squirt back there." Kiara looked in the back seat with awe-filled eyes. Behind the driver's seat was a small car-seat with a small one-and-a-half-year-old in it. His name was Yugi, and he looked just like his parents. He had his mother's gentle amethyst eyes and his father's tri-colored hair, but Yugi still only had a head full of fuzz then real hair. The baby had his head tilted to the side, sleeping a dream-filled sleep. Some drool had rolled its way down his cheek, which made him even more adorable then he naturally was. Kiara blew a kiss to her baby boy and smiled.

"This trip is really tiring him out, don't you think?" Atem smiled and nodded in agreement. They had bought a portable DVD player so that Yugi could watch some Sesame Street and some other preschool shows. Yugi did not pay attention to what they were teaching; he just loved the music that they played. He loved music very much. However, the longer the car ride went on, the sleepier Yugi became. Long car rides always rocked him to sleep.

"I may be joining him in a few minutes." Atem replied, eyes drooping a bit. Kiara playfully nudged him.

"You've only been driving for one hour." Atem shrugged.

They had moved through Kentucky and Tennessee pretty quickly thanks to Atem's speeding, but Georgia nearly got on their nerves. They were going diagonal southward through the state, which took a good portion of the day. Yugi and Kiara slept through most of Georgia, but Kiara awoke sometime after Atem hit Florida. The young mother stretched and yawned at the same time.

"Good morning, Atem."

"Mmm …" She heard him grunt. Kiara looked to her husband and saw the deep bags under his eyes from staying up all night. His giant canteen of coffee kept him wide awake all through the night, but now it was starting to wear off.

"Atem, do you want to pull over and have me drive?" Atem waved his hand.

"No, we'll do breakfast first and then we'll switch." Kiara knew he was only cranky due to his lack of sleep. So she agreed with him. They pulled up to a nice looking restaurant. Atem got out and volunteered to wake Yugi up.

"Yugi, come on; wake up, Baby." Feeling the light shaking, Yugi was instantly woken up. The small boy yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes with his fist at the same time. Atem laughed at this cute little antic. "Did you have a good sleep, Squirt?"

"Yah." The small voice said. Yugi still could only speak a few words, and the words that he was trying to learn, he put them in two-syllable baby words. Atem picked him up and went to go catch up with Kiara.

---

The inside of the restaurant was very fancy and Atem nearly choked. He knew that everything on the menu was going to be very expensive. Kiara groaned at that cheap look in Atem's eyes.

"Oh, stop; I'd rather pay extra for a good meal then get rotten food!"

"But … did you see these prices?!"

"Atem, stop being so cheap all the time!" Atem glared at his wife.

"I prefer the term '_smart consumer_'." Kiara exhaled loudly.

"And I call it being cheap!" As Yugi's parents continued to fight, his adorably large amethyst eyes caught sight of a waitress carrying a plate that contained a stack of five fluffy pancakes. Yugi smiled and made an amused squealing sound when he spotted them. He followed the waitress with the plate, wanting that delicious, non-nutritional syrupy breakfast. The baby had not been walking for very long, so his tiny legs were a little wobbly and he took small, slow steps. The waitress set the stack of five pancakes down in front of a man reading a newspaper.

"Thank you." He said.

"You're welcome, Sir. She replied before walking away. The man folded his newspaper and was about to spread the butter on his pancakes when he realized that one of them was missing.

"What the Devil?!" He looked down to the floor when he heard a munching sound and saw Yugi eating a pancake, holding it in both hands. Yugi looked at him with soft, innocent eyes. The man just laughed, thinking this was the cutest sight he had ever seen. Yugi cocked his head when the man began to laugh at him and just took another bite of the pancake. "You know, I think that would taste better with syrup." Yugi did not answer, he just took another bite.

"YUGI!" Yugi turned when he heard both of his parents calling his name. He looked at them with his cheek puffed out since they were full of pancake. Kiara picked Yugi up, who still had the pancake in his hand. She planted kisses all over his face.

"Yugi, don't you _ever_ run away from Mommy like that ever again!" Yugi mumbled something, but his mouth was still so full of pancake that no one could understand him. Atem looked at the man with an apologetic look.

"I am very sorry for this; here, I'll pay you the amount of what he ate." The man held up his hand and shook his head,

"Nonsense; I thought it was rather cute. He reminds me of my grandson; plus, he saved me from getting more calories then I need." He laughed at his own stupid joke. Atem was very grateful that this man had a sense of humor.

After that mess was cleared up, Kiara, Atem and their son sat at a small table that was made for two people and took a high-chair for Yugi. It was obvious that the boy wanted pancakes, so that was what his mother ordered for him. Atem ordered just a small bowl of oatmeal so that he could save some money, and Kiara ordered a ham and cheese omelet for herself. Yugi began to babble with himself as he played with the straw that came in Atem's soda.

"Agooda, gooda, gooda, gooda …" Baby talk was still his main language, but he was learning more and more words each day. Atem and Kiara usually spoke to him when he would go back to his baby language.

"Is that so, Yugi? How do you feel about that?" Atem asked with a smile on his face. Yugi smiled back and babbled again.

"Gooda gobba gee!" He was beginning to become a little loud, so Kiara began to shush him. Finally, their breakfasts came. Kiara cut up Yugi's pancakes into small pieces so that the baby could fit them into his mouth. Once Yugi had his breakfast, he used both hands to pick up a lot of pieces and began to stuff them into his mouth.

"Baby, that's not the right way to eat; you're going to make yourself sick!" Kiara said with that motherly tone clear in her voice.

"Oh, let him eat the way he wants, Kiara; we'll have plenty of time to teach him some etiquette as he grows up." Kiara did not listen. She took a napkin and wiped the syrup off of Yugi's hands and around his mouth.

"Well, I want him to learn manners as soon as possible. The quicker he learns them, the more he'll use them." Atem shrugged. When it came to Kiara's mothering methods, there was no point in arguing. He just decided to finish his own breakfast and wait for his family to finish theirs. Yugi only ate a few pieces of pancakes. It seemed that the one he '_stole_' had filled him up. He gave his mother a helpless look, telling her that he was full. "Are you full, Baby? Okay, but Mommy still has to finish her breakfast." Yugi just wiped his mouth with his arm.

"Pee!" Atem looked up.

"Did you say you have to pee?" Yugi clapped his tiny hands.

"Pee!" Kiara had a disgusted look on her face.

"No, Atem; I think he's telling us that he did pee …" Atem slapped his face with his hand. They had been in the process of trying to potty-train their son, but he kept having accidents.

"I'll go change his diaper." Atem took his son, along with the diaper bag, and headed out of the restaurant to their Ford Escape so that he could change Yugi's diaper in peace. While the father and son completed that little adventure, Kiara was finally finished with her breakfast. Atem paid the waitress and went to go put Yugi back in his car seat.

---

As the trip continued through the state of Florida, more and more bugs began hitting the windshield. Every time one of them would, Kiara would always try to wash them off, but then ten more bugs would hit it again. Atem was lying in the back seat with his head next to Yugi's car seat. He was snoring quite loudly; Kiara just tuned it out by playing anything she could find on the radio.

Yugi stared at his father as he continued to sleep. Daddy made such loud noises when he slept. The baby boy giggled at Atem's snoring. He had kept his mouth open the whole time. Some snores were louder then others. Looking around, Yugi saw a blue ballpoint pen on the seat and picked it up. He curiously opened it and began to draw on Atem's forehead. Kiara was paying too much attention to the road so she was not able to see Yugi's creativity at work. Atem was such a deep sleeper that he did not even wince when Yugi began to scribble a bit harder on his head. Soon, Atem's whole forehead was covered in ink and Yugi worked his way down to Atem's cheeks and pointy nose. The baby giggled as he continued his artwork.

---

It was not long until they reached the beach resort. The sudden stop was enough to wake Atem up. Yugi kept himself busy by playing with the pen, some of the ink getting all over his hands. When Atem saw his son playing with the pen, he immediately took it away, which caused Yugi to whine.

"Ehhh!"

"What are you doing with this? This is my lucky pen!" Yugi screamed very loudly, clearly wanting his toy back. Atem waved his finger in front of his son, showing his authority. "You stop that screaming this instant, young man!"

"Ehhh!" Yugi continued to whine. The door suddenly opened and Kiara began to unbuckle Yugi's car seat.

"Enough out of the both of you; this is a vacation and --- ahh!" She could not believe the mess of ink that was all over Atem's face. It was very hard for her not to laugh at this particular moment. Atem raised a brow at his wife's sudden outburst.

"Kiara, what's wrong?" Said woman put a hand over her mouth and began to chuckle without answering her husband's question. "May I ask what's so funny?" It took a moment for Kiara to respond because she was still laughing.

"Honey, have you had a look in the mirror lately?" The confused look on Atem's face seemed to grow.

"… No."

"Then you might want to." Atem was curious as to why Kiara was laughing at him, so he decided to crawl up between the drivers' seat and the passengers' seat to see himself in the rearview mirror. When he did, he let out an ear piercing scream.

"_**WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!?!**_" Kiara did not answer him, she just continued to laugh. Yugi, hearing his mother laugh, followed her example. When Atem heard his son's small giggle, he turned to the baby. "You did this to me, didn't you?" Yugi clapped his hands as if cheering himself for his '_masterpiece_'. As much as Atem wanted to be mad, he could not find it in himself to be because of the fact that Yugi's curiosity was just too cute sometimes. He must have been curious as to how Daddy would look in blue. "Well, since you're the artist here, you're going to help me wash it off. Atem picked Yugi up and put him on the ground. Both Kiara and Atem began to unload some of the luggage. Kiara took Yugi's things while Atem took a bag of snacks they had brought along for the ride.

---

There were three floors of condos at the resort and then the ground floor. The elevator ride to the first floor was a little embarrassing for Atem; the people that rode with them began to make fun of the scribbling on his face. After getting the room key, Kiara set up Yugi's playpen and let him play with his toys while Atem unloaded the rest of the luggage.

"Okay, I think we're all done; I'm going to go to the store to get some groceries that we'll need for the week. Why don't you take Yugi down to the beach so that he can get his feet wet?"

"Fine, but only after I wash all this crap off of my face." After Atem was able to get at least most of the ink off of his face, h slipped into his swimming trunks and rubbed sun block all over his arms, legs, torso and face. Being of Egyptian decent, he was naturally tan, so there was no point in getting an even deeper one. Yugi, however, took his mother's pale skin color; and since his skin was very sensitive, Kiara went overboard and bought the best sun block she could find for babies. After Atem was finished putting sun block on himself, he put Yugi in one of those "_Little Swimmers'_" diapers, the ones that were water-proof, then he put Yugi in the tiny life-jacket, that he had bought, and topped it all off with a small hat; the hat made Yugi look like he was about to go on a safari. "There you go, Son; all ready to go to the beach." Yugi looked up at his father with questioning eyes. He had no idea what the beach was or why he had to wear this hat. Atem chuckled. "Sorry about the hat; it was your mother's idea," He picked Yugi up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "she's crazy."

"Agooda, gooda, gooda, gooda …" Obviously, the baby was not listening.

It was not too long before the Moto men reached the beach. There was a small lagoon behind the resort that they were staying at.

"Ahhhhh …." Yugi gurgled as he gazed out into the lagoon. The lagoon was surrounded by a few sandbars, but if one were to walk over to the other side of those sand bars, they would see the actual Gulf of Mexico. Atem gave Yugi another kiss on the cheek.

"Isn't it beautiful, Yugi?"

"Bufll …" He tried to repeat. Atem chuckled again and walked up to the lagoon, placing Yugi down in the sand once he reached the water. Baby Yugi had never felt sand before; it was very squishy between his toes. He looked up at his father with a look in his eyes that seemed to ask, '_now what do I do?_' "It's alright, Baby; you can play in the water if you like." At hearing the word '_play_', Yugi's eyes immediately sparkled. He squealed loudly and began to splash about in the shallow water. Atem watched his son enjoy his first time at the beach. A nice, cool breeze blew into his face. He enjoyed it. Yugi sounded as if he was enjoying the water. He waddled through it for a few more minutes. Atem sat on the sand and continued to listen to his son's happy squealing and relaxing in the pleasant breeze. As he looked at the baby in the water, he saw Yugi making handprints in the squishy sand. Of course, his hands were all dirty, but the water from the lagoon washed it away.

Looking to his right, Atem saw a good-sized swing set that was set up in the drier parts of the sand. "Yugi, do you want to swing?" Yugi stood up, with his hands covered in sand, and at hearing the word '_swing_', his eyes lit up as he smiled and began waddling over to Atem. Yugi loved to swing; swinging was one of his favorite things to do. Atem placed Yugi in the baby swing and began to softly push him. Yugi giggled. He just loved to swing!

"Weee!" He yelled

"Having fun, Little One?" Yugi giggled loudly.

"Up, up!" Yugi had not yet learned the word '_higher_', so he used the word he did know how to say.

"You want to go higher? Alright, but just a little bit." He pushed a bit more and Yugi did go higher. He simply loved it. The cool ocean breeze added to the moment and made it very relaxing for the young father. He continued to push Yugi in the swing for a few more minutes until he grew rather tired of that and picked Yugi up. "Now we're going to go walk on the beach." Atem said. Yugi wanted down, but Atem refused because he started to walk right through the lagoon. Soon, the water came up to his waist and began to slow him down. His arms were getting a little tired so he sat Yugi down on his shoulders, that way he could still walk across the lagoon and give his arms a rest at the same time. Yugi liked it when he sat on Daddy's shoulders. It made him feel tall and he could see almost everything. He squealed and giggled, patting his palms on Atem's head. "Oww, oww, Yugi – oww – stop it – oww!" Yugi did as he was told, but giggled nonetheless.

It did not take long for the Moto men to make it to the sandbars. Atem placed Yugi down on the sand and the little boy began to waddle over to where he heard the waves. Atem walked after him, allowing Yugi to explore so long as he could see him. Yugi simply loved it when the waves ran over his feet, cooling them from the hot sand.

"Wet!" He yelled out. Atem chuckled.

"You like getting wet?" Yugi began to splash around in the water again when a rather large wave, well larger then him, splashed all over him, causing the small child to cry in surprise. Atem rushed over to Yugi and picked him up, trying to comfort the scared baby. "Shh … it's alright, Baby, it was just a little bit of water; it can't hurt you." Yugi continued to cry as he buried his face in his father's chest. "Shh … it's alright, don't worry." The crying soon diminished, but Yugi was a little too afraid to get back in the water. Atem had a bit of a water phobia and he did not want to pass that on to his son, so he did everything he could in order to get Yugi through this little fear of his. "Please don't be scared." He put Yugi down in the sand, but Yugi gripped onto his father's swimming trunks.

"Eeehh!" He whined, jumping up and down. He desperately wanted Daddy to pick him up again.

"No, Yugi; you need to get used to the water again," He looked out into the Gulf waters and saw the people out in the deeper parts, having fun. He gulped as he did, "even if I never did …" Yugi was a bit hesitate to go back in the water after that wave hit him, but he decided to give it another chance. He picked up his tiny foot and carefully placed it in the water, cringing as he did so. As a small wave came and washed his little foot, nothing bad happened. Opening his eyes, Yugi smiled and decided that he liked the water again. For this, Atem was very grateful. Not being able to swim was one of the few things he was ashamed of.

The two of them stayed out there for the next three hours, just enough time for Kiara to finish shopping and put them where they belonged. While she was putting the last few groceries in the refrigerator, she heard the door opening and a happily squealing Yugi close behind.

"Hey, we're back!" Kiara looked up to see Yugi sitting on Atem's shoulders.

"How was it?"

"It was wonderful, wasn't it, Yugi?" Atem asked, putting the baby on the floor. Yugi waddled up to his mother.

"Yah!" Kiara picked him up and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which was a mistake in her eyes because Yugi cringed and pushed her away.

"Atem?"

"Yes?" Atem responded while he was taking one of the bags to the bedroom.

"Did you put sun block on Yugi's face?" The young father stopped in his tracks; Yugi's face was the one place he forgot to put sun block on.

"Uh … of course I did," He gave a nervous chuckle, "what kind of father do you think I am?" Kiara walked into the bedroom with Yugi in his arms.

"Then why are his cheeks red, and why does he push me away whenever I give him a kiss?" It took Atem a while to come up with an excuse.

"Well … look at it this way: the deep redness is a good change from his regular pink skin …"

"Oh, Atem!"

"What?! So I missed one spot! At least the rest of him is still pink!"

"His face is the most sensitive part of him! Now he has a sun burn and he won't be able to smile …" Atem looked at his wife as if she were off of her nut.

"What are you talking about?! It's just a small sunburn! Of course he'll still be able to smile!" Atem tried to prove his point by tickling Yugi, making the small child giggle. "See?" Kiara continued to glare at her husband while she also continued to coddle her son.

"Yes, but did you also see that pained expression?!" Atem's left eye began to twitch. Sometimes there was just no point in arguing with his wife.

"Kiara, I've held my tongue about the little ticks you have while mothering our son, but this is just is the weirdest you've ever been!" He walked over to one of the bags and took out a bottle of sunburn soothing gel. "All you have to do is put some of this on his cheeks and he'll be fine." The young father tended to his baby's small sunburn. Yugi made a tiny relieved sound at feeling the cooling gel. "See, all better." Kiara put the baby down on the floor and he crawled towards his toys and began playing. The young mother stretched.

"I think I'll take him down to the pool with me."

"What, are you kidding?!"

"What?" Atem slapped his own face with his hand.

"After all the crap you just gave me about his sunburn, you want to make it even worse?!" Kiara smiled and gently leaned in to kiss Atem on the lips; that always quickly shut him up. She smirked as she pulled away.

"I'll be the one putting the sun block on him; that way I know that it's been done right." She seductively went into the room and began to change into her bathing suit. Atem was still in a bit of shock … what had just happened here? First she was yelling at him, then she was kissing him … three years of marriage and he still had not caught onto her tactic of making him drop a subject just with a kiss.

---

Down at the pool, Kiara was laying on a beach chair, wearing a navy blue bikini and one of Atem's larger t-shirts to cover her up from the sun. The small children's pool was just enough for Yugi to play in. There were no mean waves trying to eat his face. He played with some of the beach toys that his parents had bought him and then a few beach balls as well; all of different colors and sizes. He was the only one in that tiny pool so he had it all to himself. As overprotective as Kiara was, she did not want him going in that pool without the life jacket on. Yugi squealed as he began to splash around in the very shallow water. Kiara smiled and continued to watch him though her expensive sunglasses.

"Having fun, Baby?" Yugi's only response was more squealing and splashing about in the pool. She laughed at his excitement. To make up for Atem's mistake, Kiara used practically the whole bottle of sun block on Yugi's face and shoulders.

"Ma-ma …"

"What's the matter, Sweetheart?" Yugi crawled out of the small pool and slowly waddled over towards his mother. Kiara sat up, thinking that there was something wrong, but all Yugi did was hold up his tiny arms.

"Up." Kiara simply could not resist. She picked the baby up and he snuggled into her chest, yawing as he began to suck on his left thumb. Kiara gave him a small kiss on the head and began to rub his back. Just then, Atem came down, wearing his swimming trunks and flip flops, carrying a nice juicy, raw stake.

"Hey, mind if we have this for dinner tonight? I haven't had meat in two days." Kiara just shrugged and continued to bathe in the sun, holding Yugi while the baby took a small nap. Atem took that as a yes and went over to one of the provided gas grills and began to bar-b-que the stake. Atem was a big meat eater, but Kiara was a bit of a vegetarian; the closest substance she would eat that was even close to meat would be fish, and Yugi did not have enough teeth to eat solid meat such as a London broil stake, so he knew he would be the only one eating it.

---

When Atem's stake was done bar-b-quing, he and his wife went back up to the condo they had paid for. Kiara carried Yugi up to the condo since he was still sound asleep. All that playing in the water had really tired that tiny baby out. She took off his life jacket and hat and tucked him into the playpen. She smiled when she saw that he was still sucking his thumb. Both parents smiled, looking at their happy baby boy.

"He's going to wake up during the night, you know." Kiara said. Atem scoffed.

"What a way to ruin a moment, Kiara." Said woman smiled and ran her foot up the back of Atem's leg. His eye widened at the sudden feeling. Kiara leaned in and literally pulled Atem's face down so that she could kiss him.

"You know, if we're really quiet, we can have some fun before he wakes up." A sinister smile ran its way through Atem's lips as he picked his wife up, bridal style and they headed toward the bedroom.

Later in the night, Yugi did wake up. He woke up to being in his playpen rather then his crib. As he looked around, he could see that the TV was on, but Mommy and Daddy were nowhere to be found.

"Ma-ma?" He asked. Picking himself up, he found his way out of his playpen and waddled around the condo. "Da-ddy?" The way he pronounced '_daddy_' sounded as if he had hyphenated the word. Where were Mommy and Daddy? He was hungry, for crying out loud! He heard something bump against the wall of the bedroom, so Yugi walked in there, thinking his parents were in it; and to his fright, they were … What were they doing … wrestling? Apparently, Mommy was winning. Yugi cocked his head to the side and blinked in confusion. He let out a tiny sneeze, which caught the attention of Mommy and Daddy. Both stopped in their tracks. Kiara gasped.

"Ahh, Yugi!" With a blanket wrapped around her, she stood up and put on a robe. Atem sat up on the bed.

"Hey, Squirt? What's the matter?" It was a good thing Yugi was so young, or he would have truly been traumatized. He just answered his father's question by pointing to his mouth.

"Foo." Kiara came back in wearing a thin silk robe.

"You're hungry, Baby?" Yugi nodded and rubbed his eyes, signaling that he was still very tired as well. Both parents were very glad that their baby boy was not paying attention to their actions.

"We have to get a better playpen." Atem commented.

---

A few days passed. It took the Moto family a little while to get settled into their home for the week, but eventually they began to relax. Atem took Yugi to a place with a lot of souvenir shops called the Boardwalk. Yugi saw so many different items in those stores, and wanted to touch all of them, but Daddy told Yugi that he was not allowed to touch anything. Since Kiara's birthday was in two days, they were going to go out to dinner, but Atem figured that this trip was not enough of a present, so he bought a few souvenirs for Yugi to give her for her birthday. In the corner of his eye, Atem spotted a small sand castle sculpture. When he picked it up, he could tell that it was made out of actual sand. All the edges were perfectly sculpted from the sand. It sparkled a bit as well. Around the bottom, there was a banner that read: '_I had a blast at_ _Ft. Myers, FL_'. Atem laughed as he held it up in front of his son.

"What do you think, Yugi? Think you can give this to your mother?" Yugi blinked a few times before trying to touch it, but Atem quickly pulled it away, afraid that Yugi would break it. "Can you say '_sand castle_'?"

"Ca-da can." Atem laughed.

"That was no where near '_sand castle_'. Yugi giggled too and clapped his hands. The only reason he laughed was because he heard his father laugh. "Are you laughing at me laughing?"

"Yah!"

"I thought so." He went to go check out. After a few more hours of shopping, and buying Yugi a small Ft. Myers t-shirt, both went back to the condo to get ready to go out to dinner.

"We're home!" Atem put Yugi down and the baby slowly waddled into his mother's arms.

"Aww, there's my baby; come to Mommy."

"Alright." Atem said. He went up to Kiara and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and looked at Yugi, who smiled back.

"And what about the little baby?" Yugi gave her a small hug and placed his lips to her cheek. "Oh, thank you, Sweetheart." Yugi squealed, happy at the fact that he could make his mother happy.

"Hey, the kid needs a bath before we take him out in public." Atem announced.

"Well so do you, so you take the shower near the bedroom and I'll give Yugi a bath in the tub." Atem agreed. The small bathroom near the front door and bedroom had a standup shower; he figured it was the best situation so that both could bathe.

Yugi loved taking baths. He loved being able to play with his toys in nice warm water. Kiara did not fill up the tub very far since he was still very small for his young age. Yugi took a small ball and began to gnaw on it. Kiara took a bottle of baby shampoo and used a dollop of it on her son's head full of fuzz. To rinse, she held a washcloth to Yugi's face and poured a cup of water over his head to get rid of the shampoo. This way, it would not burn his eyes. After that, she used the same washcloth to wash his body. Finally, the bath was done. Kiara wrapped her baby in a fluffy towel that was bigger then he was and carried him to the room so that she could dress him in some of the new clothes that she had bought him. She chose a nice t-shirt and small cargo shorts with baby sandals. With her son finished, she placed him in the living room and turned on the TV for him to watch. Kiara then went back to the bathroom near the bedroom and pounded on the door.

"Are you done yet?"

"Just a second, I'm blow drying." Kiara exhaled loudly; that would take forever.

---

The restaurant was a very nice place. Although Atem could take only so much of seafood, he did find something on the menu that he liked. Yugi was given a small kids' menu meal; a fish sandwich with fries. Atem suddenly placed a present on the table, which caught Kiara by surprise.

"What, did you think this dinner was all you were getting for your birthday?" Kiara smiled and blushed.

"Well, considering the price, the thought did run through my mind." Atem rolled his eyes as his wife reached for the gift. She was about to open it when a small voice caught her attention.

"Ma-ma …" Both parents looked over at their son. He reached out his arms. Once again, Kiara could not resist. She picked him up and sat him on her lap.

"Oh, this one's from Yugi." Hearing his name, Yugi looked up and smiled. Kiara tore an edge of the wrapping paper, but Yugi decided to help her and finished unwrapping the gift. Atem did his best to hold back his laughter but was not very successful. "Uh … thank you, Baby." She looked at the sand castle sculpture. "Oh, honey, it's beautiful." She bent down and gave Yugi a kiss on the head, but he was too busy playing with the holographic wrapping paper. Kiara blew a kiss to Atem, not wanting to squish the baby in her lap. "And thank you, Atem."

"Don't thank me until you open my gift." Kiara reached for the smaller box and opened it. When she did, she found the most beautiful diamond earrings she had ever seen. She gasped as she saw that they were actually diamond instead of the regular cubic zirconium she normally received.

"Oh, Atem … they're _beautiful_!" Atem smiled, seeing her face light up. Yugi looked up. He cocked his head and blinked a few times, wondering why Mommy sounded so funny.

"So, do you like them?" Atem asked.

"Are you kidding? I _love_ them!" She attempted to lean over and kiss him, but then remembered the baby in her lap. Atem just shrugged and ordered the biggest ice cream sundae that the restaurant had to offer. It was meant to be fore Kiara, but as soon as it arrived, Yugi dug into it.

"Yugi, that was for your mother!" Yugi looked up at his father, blinking with ice cream all over his face.

"Mine!" He yelled. Both parents looked at each other and laughed.

"Happy birthday, Dear." Kiara smiled with love in her eyes.

"Thank you."

---

The rest of the trip went rather smoothly. They went to see a movie in a theater that served dinner along with it. The next day, they spent the entire day on the beach. It wore Yugi out quite a bit, and after a few more days of it, his parents could tell that he was ready to go home. On the final day, Atem was packing up the car while Kiara looked at the Boat House, holding Yugi.

"Well, Baby, it may be a while until we're able to come back. Did you have fun?" Yugi looked at the Boat House with his thumb in his mouth. Kiara kissed him.

"Are you two ready to go?" Atem asked. Kiara nodded. She buckled Yugi into his car seat and then they hit the road. Yugi looked back at the strange blue house and smiled. He probably would not be able to remember his first vacation, but the knowledge of the fact that he had so much fun would always stay with him.


	12. New Friends at the Hospital

_I know it's been a while, and believe me, I planned to have this up earlier since it's been in the works since Halloween, but for a long time, I was only updating it twice a week. But in the past few weeks, shit has just been all over the place lately. My boyfriend is just moving too fast for me and I know that I have to break it off with him because it's just not what I want anymore. I forgot how hard this relationship stuff was. I wish it was like the stuff we read here in FanFic, but it's not! I only met this guy not too long ago! I also think maybe I'm a little scared of having a relationship and the changes that'll come with it. Anyway, sorry about my ranting, but it's the only way I can get it out; I feel a little better now. So anyway, let me give you a summery on this chapter:_

_After a car accident that involved him and his rich bitch of a girlfriend, Atem's at the hospital when he meet Yugi, a little boy who has never been out of the hospital before._

_There you go, enjoy!_

---

Atem Darkling had been sitting on a cold table in one of the rooms in the ER of St. John's Mercy Medical Hospital. He and his girlfriend, Alicia, they had been going out on a date when they had been unexpectedly hit by an oncoming large, dodge truck. Atem's _Monte Carlo_ did not stand a chance. It had to be taken straight to the body shop while Atem and Alicia were taken to the Emergency Room. Atem kept saying he was fine, but the doctors were checking every inch of inch of him. They were checking for concussions and internal bleeding. He had neither of those; just a few cuts and scrapes all over the place. Right now, there were a few nurses patching up his many cuts, and they were big ones.

"Oww," He complained as a nurse put gauze on his currently bare chest.

"Sorry, this one was pretty open." One nurse explained in a British accent. Atem sighed, he did not care. All he cared about was if Alicia was fine or not. She was taken to the OR as soon as they arrived and he had not heard a word since.

"Has there been any word on Alicia yet?" The nurse shook her head as she finished patching him up.

"Now, just stay still for a while to let those settle and you should be fine." She said and then left. Atem rolled his eyes. There was no way he was going to stay still while his girlfriend was in the OR, possibly dying. He stood up, slowly, winced, and began to slowly make his way to the OR.

There, he asked if Alicia was out of surgery. The receptionist told him that she was and that she was in a recovery room down the hall. She called the surgeon that performed his girlfriend's surgery and chatted with him. The doctor told Atem that Alicia's surgery was pretty much minor; all she had was a concussion, a few fractured ribs, and a broken leg. He also mentioned that she could go home in a matter of days. Atem was glad to hear that it was nothing fatal. He went to Alicia's room, but once he entered, that was when the storm began.

"Finally, you showed up! I've been up here waiting for you for about forty-five minutes; where were you?!" Atem sighed. Sometimes, Alicia could be a bit of a shrew. He really did not know why he put up with her so much.

"I was in the Emergency Room getting fixed up; didn't it ever occur to you that I might have gotten hurt in that accident too?" Alicia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you're okay …" Atem's ruby-colored eyes narrowed. Alicia was your average stereotypical blonde rich-bitch. She was self-centered, narcissistic, and very spoiled; very much a '_daddy's girl_'. Atem tried to hold back his anger, but Alicia was really beginning to push her luck.

"Alicia, I cried my heart out for you, and all I get is '_I'm glad you're okay_'?!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, at least none of your bones are broken! You get to go home tonight and sleep in your own bed! I have to stay here for God only knows how long!" Atem knew that when Alicia was in, as he called it, '_princess mode_', there was no talking to her. So at this point, all he could do was get up and walk away. He exhaled with a frustrated tone and walked out of the room. "Hey, where are you going, Atem?!" Alicia asked with her snotty attitude.

As Atem walked through the hospital, he had absolutely no idea what part of it he was in for he had other thoughts on his mind. For instance, the person he actually considered loving was really not worth loving at all. It was no wonder that his friends never seemed to like her at all. He was completely blind to the reason why until this moment. As Atem was lost in thought, he was brought out of his trance as a voice called out.

"Come back here!" Suddenly, he felt something pull on his leg, almost causing him to fall over. He looked down to see a small head of short hair almost exactly like his own: small blonde bangs, black, but instead of the tips being red, they were purple. He saw tiny feet attached to a very small body that was violently shaking in fear and clutching his leg for protection. He figured it could only be a small child.

"Can I help you?" He said. The child looked up. Atem gasped at the adorability of the large amethyst eyes that the child had. The small child could be no older then at least two or three.

"Yugi, come back here this instant!" The voice from earlier called." The child, whom was now known as '_Yugi_', widened his eyes and clutched Atem's leg even further, shaking and looking away. Two nurses came running down the hall, all out of breath. They both looked pretty young, perhaps Atem's age of twenty-one. One of them was wearing blue scrubs. The ID lanyard around her neck said that her name was Amber. The other was wearing a top with a star design on it with purple bottoms. Her ID lanyard told Atem that her name was Jennifer.

"There you are; come on, Yugi; you need to have your shot." Amber said, trying to catch her breath. Atem felt Yugi shake his head rapidly against his leg. Jennifer knelt down on her knees.

"Please, Yugi? It'll make you feel better." Once again, Atem felt Yugi shake his head.

"What's going on here?" He finally asked. Amber blushed.

"We're really sorry about this, sir. Yugi here really hates to take his daily shot and always tries to avoid it." She explained. Atem looked down and saw Yugi shaking in fear.

"This kid is terrified."

"He doesn't like shots, but he needs a few everyday." Jennifer replied. Atem glared at them. He would be scared too if he was constantly told to take his shots.

"Why?" Amber glared back. Since she started working in the Pediatric Ward, she became very protective of the children.

"I'm sorry, but we can't give out that information; now if you'll excuse us, we need to treat our patient now." Atem sighed and knelt down and looked Yugi into the child's teary eyes.

"Yugi, are you scared of getting a shot?" The child nodded his head. The tiny child rubbed his upper arm as if he had already been poked with the long needle.

"Owie …" Atem chuckled.

"I know … they hurt; I've had a few during my life. Want to know something? I'm scared of them too." Yugi's jaw dropped as if he were gasping. All three adults found this to be cute and laughed. "That's right; I'm scared of shots too. Would you like to hold my hand? It makes the pain go away." Yugi groaned and shifted from foot to foot. "I'll even carry you … would that be alright?" Atem asked, tilting his head. Yugi still hesitated for a second, but finally agreed by lifting his arms and demanding to be picked up.

Atem followed carried the child in his arms and followed the two nurses to the Pediatric Ward. Inside, Atem saw all kinds of children playing and running around, some were playing with blocks, some were playing with stuffed animals, some were watching TV and others were coloring in coloring books. There were also a number of adults around as well. Atem could differentiate the difference between them. He assumed that the adults in the white coats were the doctors, those in the scrubs (_some of them were teenagers_) were nurses and the rest were parents.

"This way." He heard Jennifer say. He followed the nurse into a small room. Yugi's grip on his collar increased as the baby began to shiver. Atem smiled and rubbed his back. The little room looked like a normal Pediatric Examination room. Atem set Yugi down on the paper-covered table and the moment he let go, Yugi whined loudly and begged to be held again. The man smiled and rubbed Yugi's cheek with his index finger.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't go anywhere." He never let go of Yugi's tiny hands. Yugi's whining did not stop either. The tears in his eyes began to run down his round, pink cheeks as Jennifer rubbed his arm with antiseptic and Amber measured out the medicine in the syringe. Atem took Yugi's tiny hands in his own and kissed them. "It's alright, I'm right here. Remember, you can squeeze my hand if it hurts too much. How about we sing a song to help pass the time?" Yugi cocked his head and blinked his eyes.

"He doesn't really know any songs. His … mother doesn't sing to him that much." Amber replied. The way she pronounced the word '_mother_' made Atem a little suspicious.

"Well, I do. Let's sing '_Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_'; it's one of my favorites." Atem winked and picked the baby up from the table and held him to his chest as he began singing. Yugi noticed that Atem's throat vibrated as he began to sing. The young child tilted his head and watched Atem's Adam's apple move up and down as he sang. Soon, Yugi tried to sing along too, only it sounded nothing like '_Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_'.

"Ya-wa-da; wa-da-wa-ya-ba; dub-dub-do-gub-wy-ub; wa-ya-ba-wy-wy-duh." He sang. With the small baby distracted, Amber took this time to give the baby his shot. However, the pinch surprised Yugi, who suddenly stopped his singing and screamed in Atem's ear while clutching onto Atem's shoulders. The man clenched his teeth together at the child's screaming, but comforted him nonetheless. He knew how scary shots were to children and how they were even scarier to someone who was under a year old. He rubbed circles on Yugi's back as the baby continued to cry his lungs out.

"Shh, it's alright; I'm right here …" Yugi hid his face in Atem's shoulder. The two nurses in the room looked at each other with sad eyes. Seeing a child cry in pain was always the hard part of the job. Atem continued to sooth the baby. "Shh, it's alright …" Soon, the cries turned into little whimpers and then into small hiccups. Yugi rested his head on his savior's shoulder. Atem swayed to and fro with the baby in his arms. "It'll be alright …" Finally, the baby stopped his tantrum. Jennifer put her hand on Atem's other shoulder and nodded her head, silently telling him to follow her to Yugi's room. Atem agreed.

They made their way through the '_play area_' as Atem heard Amber and Jennifer refer the main room of the ward as, when he had to wait for them to fill out the papers to say that Yugi had taken his nightly dosage. He saw that some of the children were in wheelchairs, some of them looked like they had the effects of chemotherapy and some of them looked as if they were just fine, but Atem knew that was not the case. He looked at the boy in his arms, who had not moved since his shot. Amber had covered it with a rainbow bandage and given him a cookie. Yugi currently had the cookie in his hand, bur he would not eat it. His head was propped against Atem's shoulder. The young man was a little worried that the child did not want to play.

"Yugi, did you want to play with your friends?" Yugi just shook his head and snuggled deeper into Atem's lap. Atem sighed and decided to wait for Jennifer and Amber. After they were finished, they escorted Atem and Yugi back to Yugi's room. When they arrived, it looked as if Yugi had been there for a while.

"Ladies, can I ask you a question?" Atem did not wait for them to answer that question before he asked his next one. "I saw that the other children had their parents all around them, but where are Yugi's parents? It's very strange to me that someone would not want to be with their child if they're sick." Amber and Jennifer looked at each other.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Darkling, but we can't give you that information; doctor/patient confidentiality, you know." Amber told him. Atem frowned.

"But Yugi's the patient, they're not."

"Still, he's under their insurance." The young man became very suspicious about this. There had to be a reason as to why they would not tell them about Yugi's parents' whereabouts. Atem set Yugi in his little crib and was about to leave when he heard a small whimper.

"Ehh!" This made Atem stop in his tracks. He turned around to see Yugi leaning against the bars of the crib and reaching for Atem. "Up!" This was absolutely the most adorable scene that Atem had ever seen.

"You're very lonely in here, aren't you?" The little baby stumbled back on his chubby legs and fell on his butt.

"Uh-oh." He said and then giggled.

"How could I say '_no_' to that?" He sighed to himself. "Well, since Alicia's upstairs for the next few days, I guess I could stay for a little while." Atem picked the baby up and sat in the rocker that he had seen in the far corner of the room. Yugi reached for the stuffed panda bear in his crib, which Atem gave to him. Yugi played with it while sitting in Atem's lap as the young man watched him. It was such a wondrous sight to see such a small person find the simplest things so interesting. It made Atem's heart melt. Yugi looked up at the man whose lap he was sitting in and giggled. "What are you laughing at?"

"Bah!" Atem tickled Yugi's squishy tummy, causing the baby to giggle even more and kick his tiny feet. Atem laughed at the baby's squealing giggle. Yugi turned around in Atem's lap and hugged the man's chest. Atem hugged him back and gave him a kiss on the head. Suddenly, Yugi began to cough. At first, Atem thought nothing of it, but once he realized that the coughing was not subsiding, he began to question it a bit.

"Yugi, are you alright?"

"Heh …" The coughing continued to get worse, even as Atem grabbed for a cup of water and allowed Yugi to swallow some of it, the coughing still did not stop. "Oh dear …" Quickly gathering the child up in his arms, Atem sprinted out of the room and looked for a doctor or a nurse, or whomever was closest at the time. Luckily, Jennifer was still at the nurse's station, filling out papers. Hearing him come over, the brunette nurse raised her head.

"Jennifer, something's wrong with Yugi! He's been coughing and he won't stop!" To prove his claim, Yugi let out a very hoarse cough that left him looking extremely miserable. He was also wheezing a bit, which caused Atem to panic even more.

"Relax, Mr. Darkling; all he needs is some cough medicine and he'll be fine in about twenty minutes." Jennifer left behind a door for a few minutes. After she was gone, Yugi pawed at Atem, gaining the man's attention. The baby pointed to his throat and chest.

"Owie …" Atem's eyes teared a bit to see the child in such pain, but he hugged the child to reassure him that help was on the way.

"I know it hurts, but Nurse '_Jenny_' will get something to take the pain away, okay?" Yugi made a whining sound that made him sound helpless; but as a baby, he practically was helpless to his inner pain. Just then, Jennifer came back with something in her hand.

"Here you go, Yugi; eat this and you'll feel better." It was a cherry lollypop in the shape of a bear. Yugi smiled and happily took it. However, Atem was none too thrilled.

"That's your solution? Give him candy?! His throat may be sore, but I think his air passages are blocked too! I thought you were going to give him medicine!" Jennifer glared at him.

"For your information, it is medicine. The younger children have a bad habit of not wanting to take the nasty cough syrup, and Yugi is, by far, one of feistiest of them all. So we use these suckers to make them take it instead. It's the same thing; they just think they're getting a treat instead of a treat_**ment**_!!" By this time, Jennifer was directly in Atem's face. Atem himself was speechless at the nurse's explosive explanation. Both adults heard little suckling noises from the ground. Apparently, Atem had put Yugi down while Jennifer was yelling at him. They looked down to see Yugi enjoying his cherry lollypop very noisily.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm." Both Jennifer and Atem laughed at seeing Yugi enjoy his medical goody. As the night grew on, Atem rocked Yugi in the rocker that sat in the corner of Yugi's room. He covered the small child up with a blanket, hoping that he would fall asleep. However, Atem was the one to drift off first. Yugi's eyes were droopy, but they were still open. When he looked up and saw Atem asleep, he yawned and closed his sleepy eyes.

About an hour later, Atem woke up to realize he was still in the hospital. As he was about to stand up, he remembered the little boy that was in his lap. A smile spread across his face as he picked Yugi up and gently placed him in the crib.

---

The next day, Atem had gone to the hospital, fully intended on visiting Alicia. The elevator had arrived at the floor that his girlfriend resided on; the same floor that housed the Pediatric Ward. He stepped off of that elevator and faced a dilemma: there was an intersection; one direction went to Alicia and one direction went to Yugi. Guess which one he chose.

He walked up to the nurse's desk and announced himself. She allowed directed him towards his destination. After thanking her, Atem followed the directions given to him. Slowly, he opened the white door to the small room. When he opened it, he found Baby Yugi, asleep in his crib, holding the panda bear in one arm and sucking his thumb. Atem really did not want to wake him up and disturb the adorable scene before him. The young man smiled. Yugi had yet to awaken and acknowledge his presence. Wanting to feel that soft skin, Atem took his finger and began to gently stroke Yugi's chubby cheek. Unconsciously, the baby smiled in his sleep.

Upon feeling the finger on his cheek, Baby Yugi instantly woke up. Using his tiny, chubby arms, he propped himself up and looked at Atem with a confused face.

"Hello, Yugi; how are you doing this morning?" Atem asked with a smile on his face. Yugi continued to look at him with confusion in his innocent eyes. Atem saw this and his smile instantly faded. "Yugi, what's wrong?" Suddenly, giant tears began to make their way into the child's eyes. His bottom lip began to quiver and his body began to shake violently. Finally, the small boy screamed his lungs out. Atem had to cover his ears at how loud Yugi's cry was. It was not too long before a nurse came in. "What's wrong with him?!" Atem asked above Yugi's crying. The nurse took the baby out of his crib, held him to her shoulder and patted him on his back.

"We should have told you about his memory problem!" She answered, also yelling over Yugi's loud crying. Atem still had his hands over his ears.

"What memory problem?!" The nurse shushed the crying baby on her shoulder before answering him.

"He has a very short memory. Unless he sees someone constantly, he forgets them easily! It's part of the brain damage he has!" Yugi continued to scream.

"Why is he screaming?!"

"Because you're a stranger to him!" Atem was awestruck; how could the boy just forget him overnight?

"Can you get him to stop screaming?!"

"I'm trying!" She continued to sooth the child, who eventually stopped his screaming, but continued to whimper. "It's okay, shh; you're okay …" A hint of jealousy ran though Atem at this time. He wanted to be the one to comfort the child the way he did yesterday. "It's okay, Yugi; he won't hurt you." She let Yugi look at Atem for himself. Atem smiled at the baby, but he seemed to be so shy. Yugi smiled back, showing his newly grown teeth; he only had so many.

"Hello, Yugi; my name is Atem. Can I play with you?" Atem asked. At hearing the word '_play_', Yugi's shyness disappeared immediately. He held out both arms for the young man to hold him, which Atem gladly accepted. Once in the warm arms of Atem, Yugi felt completely at ease, nuzzling his cheek in Atem's neck. Atem ran his hand up and down the baby's back to show him that he meant no harm. The nurse found this to be very adorable.

"Well, before you two can officially '_play_', Yugi needs his breakfast first." Both Atem and Yugi looked at her with blinking eyes. Yugi had been so terrified at first that he had completely forgotten about being hungry.

"You know what," Atem began. Yugi quickly turned to look at him, "that sounds like a good idea; may I have some breakfast too? I have not had any this morning." The nurse nodded and escorted both males out of Yugi's room.

---

Yugi simply loved his breakfast. Since he was just under a year and did not have all of his teeth yet, his food was still soft and mushy. Atem helped feed him, even though Yugi held a baby-spoon in his left hand. He had apple sauce, mushy cereal, orange wedges and milk. However, Atem's breakfast was not so tasteful to him. Since he did not arrive early enough to order his breakfast, he had to take whatever the cafeteria had left over, which was cold pancakes, cold sausage, and orange juice. Even though it was cold, it was still pancakes, which were Atem's favorite; so he ate them. He was having so much fun watching Yugi eat his breakfast. It was very entertaining to Yugi as well.

"Alright, Yugi open up for some more." Atem said, holding out a spoonful of apple sauce.

"Ah!" Yugi squeaked as he opened his mouth, allowing the fruity mush to enter it. Yugi loved apple sauce; it was sweet and he loved sweet flavors.

"Yum-mum!" He said. Atem just laughed loudly, causing Yugi to laugh with him. Those little laughs were the most wonderful sounds Atem had ever heard. He found that he loved the sound of innocence and youth filled with such happiness. Eventually, Yugi's breakfast ended up more _on_ him then it did _in_ him. After a quick change of clothes, Atem and Yugi were ready to play.

They spent most of the morning playing with Yugi's blocks. Every time Atem would make a tower of blocks that reached a certain height, Yugi would eventually knock it down. It shocked Atem at most times, but Yugi laughed his lungs out. After about forty-five minutes of that, they moved on to coloring. Yugi kept switching between his left hand and his right hand.

"Yugi, can I have the blue?"

"Uh-uh." Atem smiled and looked at his little friend to see that Yugi was using the blue crayon to scribble all over the page in his coloring book.

"Having fun?" Yugi held up his coloring book with the color blue scribbled all over the page.

"Ook!"

"I see! Very pretty, you made a sky!" Yugi giggled and began to color again. At times, Atem had to slow Yugi's scribbling arm down so that he did not accidentally color out of the book.

After a few more minutes of coloring, Atem wanted Yugi to get out and stretch his legs. At this time, Amber had started her shift so he asked her.

"Amber, would it be alright if I took Yugi on a walk around the hospital?" Amber looked a little hesitant.

"Well, we don't want him to go too far … See, the thing is … Yugi can't really focus on something for too long …" Atem shrugged.

"So, he's a baby; a lot of babies can't."

"But Yugi's different; he suffers from a lot of pain that he masks with his smiles. I really would prefer if you didn't take him out of the Pediatric Ward." She said. Atem still did not understand, but agreed not to take Yugi out of the ward. So instead, they played with Yugi's baby toys instead.

It was around noon that Yugi had to be put down for his afternoon nap. Atem decided to take a nap in the rocker. Suddenly, he felt the vibration of the cell phone in his pocket. Without even looking at it, or opening his eyes, Atem quietly answered his phone.

"Hello…?"

"Atem, where the hell have you been all day?!" The young man's eyes widened at the impossibly high-pitched, aggravating voice.

"Alicia?" He asked, now fully awake.

"Of course it's me, who else did you think it was?" Just hearing the words come out of her mouth made him agitated.

"I'm sorry; is there something you want?"

"Well, yes; I'm trapped in this horrible hospital and I'm completely bored! I can't go shopping, I can't get a manicure, and I can't even get a decent meal!" Atem rolled his eyes, even though he agreed with her on the last part.

"What do you want me to do about it?" He knew what she was going to say, that she wanted his company so that she could complain his ears off, but he decided to play dumb, knowing how much she truly hated it.

"Quit being such an idiot, Atem; I want you to come and keep me company."

"Sorry, I can't."

"Why not? … And why are you speaking in such a low voice?"

"Because I'm with someone else and they're asleep right now." As soon as t he words left his mouth, he immediately regretted it. Alicia gasped long and hard on the other end of the line.

"I knew it! You're with another girl, aren't you?!"

"No, you don't understand, I"---

"It's that slut, Tea, isn't it?! I knew you were hanging around her too much!" Atem's blood was boiling. Alicia had no right to insult Atem's friends like that.

"Alicia, you're jumping to conclusions, please just le"---

"Or maybe it's that bum, Joey and his trashy friend … I forget his name." Obviously, the girl did not know manners very well.

"His name is Tristan, and Joey is _not_ a bum!" He said through his teeth, trying to hold back his anger so that he did not wake Yugi up.

"I don't want you seeing that group ever again." Atem's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?!" He stood up. Now knowing that he could no longer hold back his anger, Atem left Yugi's room so that he could properly yell at Alicia. He let her talk while he walked away from the Pediatric Ward.

"Oh, come on, Atem; you could do so much better then that crowd. You're much too good for them. You should start hanging around me and my friends more often. It would do wonders for your social life." With each step that he took, Atem's anger continued to rise. Finally, he reached the room she was staying in. "Atem, say something."

The door suddenly opened with a loud **SLAM** against the wall. Alicia gasped and looked up to see a very pissed off Atem in her doorway. Putting her phone away, she folded her hands in her lap, just like she was always taught to do. "Ever heard of '_knocking_'?" She said in that snotty tone of hers.

"If you weren't already in that bed, I'd slap you across your face, Alicia!"

"I beg your pardon!"

"How dare you insult my friends like that?! What do you think gives you the right to go around saying things like that about people?!" Alicia shrugged her shoulders ignorantly.

"I can say whatever I want about those low-lives; you're lucky I let you go out with me." Atem's eyes widened in rage.

"You are not the '_princess_' you think you are, Alicia! And frankly, I'm sick and tired of your bitching!" Alicia glared at her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend.

"How dare you use that kind of language with me!" Atem let out a low growl under his breath. This woman was making him so angry that she was actually releasing the beast within him.

"Ever since we started dating, all you've ever done is bitch at me! '_Atem do this_', or '_Atem do that_', or '_Atem take me here_', or my personal favorite, '_Atem I won't forgive you until you buy me this_'; do you realize how much of a debt you put me in?!" Alicia continued to look at him with a clueless expression on her face. "I've been your willing servant all this time and I've gotten nothing out of this relationship while you've gotten everything! I've put up with your stuck-up friends and your rich-snobby family, but I will _**NOT **_tolerate you putting down my real friends as if they were lower then dirt!"

"Are you saying you'd rather hang around those '_rats_' then with _me_?!" She said with such distain in her voice, that Atem just lost all control.

"I'm saying that I'd rather be around real friends, like mine, then fake acquaintances, like yours!"

"Well that's too bad, because if you want to be with me, then that's what you're going to have to do." Atem smirked. Alicia many not have known it, but she had just given him a ticket out.

"Well, I can solve that problem instantly: _**WE'RE THROUGH!**_" He swiftly left the room.

"No, we're not through! Not until I say so! Where do you think you're going, Atem?! You come back here right now! Atem!" But Atem never came back. Alicia looked around her room and folded her arms, feeling completely humiliated.

When Atem returned to Yugi's room, he let out a long, deep sigh. However, it w as not a sigh of distress; it was actually a sigh of relief. He no longer had to worry about Alicia and her snobby ways, her lack of empathy for others' feelings, or her expensive tastes. A smile reached his face. Now he could spend more time with Yugi.

---

A few weeks passed and Atem came to the hospital to spend almost everyday with Yugi. He had to admit that the child did seem to look better now that he had someone to keep him company. When Atem first met Yugi, he was very pale, and always had a look of pain in his eyes. Now, that pain seemed to lessen and his face seemed to hold more color. Jennifer and Amber reported that he smiled and laughed more, and that his memory had even begun to improve. All in all, Atem felt very good about what he was doing. However, there was one thing that still bothered him: of all the time that he had spent with Yugi, he never did see the baby's parents. He kept asking the two nurses and Yugi's doctors about them, but all refused to give information out about them.

After getting nowhere with asking nicely, Atem decided to take matters into his own hands. One evening, while the ward was constantly busy, Atem snuck into the file room and quickly looked up Yugi's file. It was a good thing that he had worked in an office for Alicia's father for so long. All the filing experience he had allowed him to find Yugi's file quite quickly. What he found really shocked him. It seems that the parents of this poor child were actually very abusive to him. Yugi had suffered a lot of damage inside of his mother's womb because of her drinking and smoking, causing him to be born prematurely. Because of this, Yugi was officially taken away from her by the authorities as soon as he was born and his mother was charged with '_Child Endangerment_'. There was no mention of Yugi's father in the file. Atem suspected that he had left the mother when she found out about the pregnancy. This made the young man burn up with anger. How could anyone do that to a child? It was reported in the report that Yugi was not expected to live as long as he has. After looking through all the paperwork, Atem found the report on Yugi's memory problem and what had caused it. His brain was not fully developed when he was born. There were many other reports in the file that the child had been abused, even if he was no born yet. As Atem read through the file, tears began to fall from his eyes. Poor Yugi; it was no wonder he was the way he was: so clingy and confused all the time. He was determined to do something about it once and for all.

Later that evening, when Atem went home, he decided to talk things over with his grandfather, Solomon. He had told Solomon that he had been visiting the child for a few days now and that the boy had completely stolen his heart; especially after this morning. This morning, Yugi had learned to say Atem's name … sort of. He pronounced it '_Ti-ti_', but the fact that he had a place in Yugi's, very, short-term memory meant the world to him.

"I want to adopt him, Grandpa." Atem said. Needless to say, Solomon was less then amused.

"Do you have any idea how much work raising a child is?! You're only twenty-one and still in college!"

"Don't you think I know that?! But I'm willing to work hard for him in order to make him happy! This child deserves it." Solomon sighed. There really was nothing he could do. After all, his grandson was an adult now and he was going to do whatever he wanted, despite the old man's opinion.

"You know I can't stop you from doing what you're going to do; it's not my opinion you have to worry about, it's Social Services'." Atem's eyes widened. He had completely forgotten about Social Services. They were the ones that decided if he would be able to adopt Yugi or not.

"What do you think they'll say?" He asked softly. Solomon sat down.

"Who knows; they may think that because you're still a student, that you're not qualified to adopt a child." Atem sat down with his grandfather. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Well then, I'll just have to make them see how good of a father I can be."

"And how will you do that?"

"What if he stayed here for a while? Please?" Atem begged.

"Atem, you know that the hospital would never let you take that child out of there without permission from the parents themselves." Atem sighed.

"You're right …" They sat in silence for a while before the light bulb in Atem's head lit up. "Maybe … you could adopt him." Solomon's head shot up.

"You're not serious, are you?!"

"Why not? It's full proof!"

"Atem, I'm too old to take care of a baby." Atem scoffed.

"You wouldn't really be the one taking care of him; I would. You'd just be his real legal guardian."

"If the legal system thinks I'm too old to raise a child, they might say no."

"But you raised me; I'll make sure they know that." Solomon sighed.

"Atem, you're not getting this; we're not exactly the perfect family to raise a baby. He needs a mother." Atem shrugged.

"I will give him all the love and care he will ever need." Solomon rubbed his eyes. Atem slid to his knees on the floor and knelt in front of the man whom had raised him. "Please, Grandpa; you'd be making a child's life better." Solomon hated it when Atem begged like that. For some reason, it was just so pathetic to see this young man on his knees with his hands folded in front of his face and tears forming in his eyes. It was enough to make the old man break down himself.

"Oh, alright …" Atem's sad look instantly vanished from his face and was replaced with a look of joy. He stood up and hugged his grandfather.

"Thank you, Grandpa! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" With that, he rushed back to the hospital to tell Yugi the good news, whether he understood it or not.

---

After a few months of battling Social Services, Solomon Moto was officially recognized by the court as a suitable parent for Baby Yugi. By this time, Yugi was one year old. Jennifer and Amber stood beside Atem and Solomon throughout the entire ordeal. The two nurses were in Yugi's room, packing up his things. The child had been here since his birth and both nurses had grown quite attached to him. It was going to be hard to come into work the next few days and not see Yugi's bright and shining smile.

"Hey Amber, do you remember when Yugi was born? Remember how small he was?" Amber smiled. She had been in the delivery room to assist the doctors on the day of Yugi's birth.

"Yeah, he was so small that no one thought he was going to make it." Jennifer nodded.

"He fought so hard his first few weeks of life; I guess he wanted to prove everyone wrong." She added that last part with a small giggle. Amber looked at her watch.

"Shouldn't Atem have finished Yugi's bath by now? Where are they?"

"They were done a while ago; I sent them down to the cafeteria to get Yugi some of his favorite Jell-O to make the move easier." Just then, they heard the squealing giggle of Yugi that both nurses had come to cherish so much. Along with that giggle was Atem's deep laugh. They walked into the room with Yugi sitting on top of Atem's shoulders and holding a small cup of orange flavored Jell-O in his hand. Both nurses looked up and smiled.

"Having fun?" Jennifer asked. Atem smiled at them.

"Very much." He put Yugi down, who opened up his Jell-O cup and started to drink it as if it were liquid. Atem smiled at his new 'son'. (_Sounds weird I know, but remember, it was Atem's idea for Solomon to adopt him and Atem will be the one to actually raise him._) "Listen, I wanted to thank you ladies for all the help that you've done for me and my grandfather. Actually, now that it's happened, Grandpa can't get enough of Yugi. I think he loves him more then he ever did me." The nurses laughed.

"Well, we're just happy that Yugi can finally leave this place and be around people to help his memory along." Amber replied.

"Aw gone!" Yugi's small, happy voice said. When the adults looked down, they saw the area around Yugi's mouth and his hands had been dyed orange because he had smeared it all over his face to get it in his mouth. While both Amber and Jennifer thought it to be cute, Atem could not see the cuteness in the moment since he was the one that had to clean Yugi up.

"Yugi! Now I have to give you another bath!" Amber and Jennifer both laughed aloud.

"Don't worry, just wash his hands and face in the sink in the bathroom." Amber said. Like most hospital rooms, Yugi's room had an adjacent bathroom attached to it. Atem sighed, picked Yugi up around the waist (_holding the child under his arm_) and rolled his eyes.

"This parenting thing seemed a lot better when it wasn't so messy." He said before turning to the bathroom, hearing both of the nurses laugh at him as he left the room.

---

Later that day, Yugi had arrived at his new home. Solomon had been preparing the baby's room all day. Joey and Tristan helped the old man bring home a new crib just for him, along with some new toys, as well as some of Atem's old toys. Atem was so sure that his grandfather would win custody of Yugi that as soon as the decision was made, they started to paint the guest room a baby blue color with crayon wallpaper siding. At first Solomon was not too crazy about the idea of having a baby in the house, but once he met Yugi, the child stole his heart and he could not wait to bring him home. While Atem spent Yugi's last day at the hospital with him, Solomon, Joey and Tristan all helped get the house ready for Yugi's arrival.

"So tell me sum'm, Gramps; how's this gonna work? You're this kid's guardian, but 'Tem's gonna be his dad? … I'm confused!" Joey said.

"It's simple, Joseph: as soon as Atem graduates college and has a good career, I will award him custody of Yugi. But until that time, I will be legally responsible for the boy, but Atem will be his true 'father'." Solomon explained. Joey blinked a couple of times.

"I still don't get it …" Tristan slapped him on the back.

"You don't get a lot of things, Pal." Joey gave into his rage and put Tristan into a headlock.

"No one asked ya, ya dimwit!" From under Joey's arm, Tristan was able to respond.

"You're the one who's lost in confusion, idiot!" Joey squeezed his arms together.

"Take that back!"

"Make me!" At this point, Solomon just left the room, but was still able to hear Joey's response.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Solomon sighed.

"Boys will be boys …" He said to himself. Just then, they heard the front door to the shop open and then the door to their home quickly followed.

"Grandpa, we're home!" Upon entering and seeing Joey with Tristan's head under his arm, Atem stared at them, in the middle of giving Yugi a piggy-back-ride. "Guys, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't rough-house in front of my son." Atem smiled at the new title he was able to give Yugi. Finally, Joey let go of Tristan and they stood up.

Yugi looked around his new home. If Atem was with him, then he was sure he was going to like this new place. Above the sofa was a home-made banner that said '_Welcome Home Yugi_' on it. There was also a small cake to help break the tension.

"Hey there, Kiddo; how ya doin'?" Joey asked with a big smile on his face. Yugi responded by hiding his face in Atem's hair. Atem chuckled.

"Don't take offence, Joey; he's just shy." Tristan smiled at Yugi.

"Well, don't worry, Yugi. You're not the first kid to be scared of Joey just by looking at him." Joey raised his fist to Tristan's face.

"I thought I told ya to zip it!" Yugi began to quiver on Atem's back. The new foster-father placed his son on the floor and held his hand.

"Where's Grandpa?"

"Right here." Solomon said, coming into the room with a gallon of strawberry ice cream in his hands. Yugi cocked his head and looked at him. Though his memory was improving, he had not seen Solomon in a few days and the memory of the old man had faded a bit in the child's mind. Solomon smiled at Yugi.

"Hello there, Yugi; how have you been?" Atem could see that Yugi was having a hard time remembering who Grandpa was and decided to help. He knelt down on one knee and rubbed the child's back.

"Yugi, do you remember Grandpa?"

"No …" Yugi's baby voice answered. Solomon seemed upset. He knew about Yugi's memory issue, but it had yet to affect him like this.

"Well, this is my grandpa; and now, he's your grandpa too. He won't hurt you, I promise. He just wants to give you a hug. Can you give him that?" Yugi looked at Atem, seeming to ask if he was sure that the old man would not hurt him. Atem responded with a soft smile and a wink before gently pushing him forward. Yugi took small steps and fiddled with his fingers before he stood in front of his new grandfather and looked at him. Solomon did not want to frighten the child, so he decided to let him make the first move. Slowly, Yugi opened his arms for a hug. Solomon gently lowered himself to his knees and opened his arms as well. This was a gesture that Yugi knew all too well. He loved to give hugs to just about anyone. The baby smiled and waddled into the old man's arms, giving him a nice big hug. It felt nice and warm; and Yugi could feel comforting hands rub his back.

Atem smiled at the seen before him. He knew that everyone was going to get along just fine. He made a promise to himself that he would keep Yugi happy forever, no matter what.

---

The End


	13. Twins

_Hey, people. Sorry this one's late. What do ya know, it's my first update of '09. Like your new year? I did. I shared a kiss with the boy I wanted and then ended up with laryngitis! Still have it, by the way. Anyhoo, a little note about_ 'Evil in the Heart'_: I finally came up with an idea for the new chapter, but it's going to take some research and I really wanna get it right. So don't fret; it's in the works, but give me at least two weeks so that I can get through the research and start writing it. I want it to be at least_ **A BIT** _accurate and a surprise. I got the inspiration for it this week. Other than that, I do have a bit of a dilema to work out. I want to start a new story, just so that I can see how people would take it. Problem is, I don't know if it'll work. Here's what I'm thinking:_

_**Atem Moto is a young genius. At the age of eighteen and still in high school, the local university has hired him to be the lead scientist of their Cosmology department. He sets up a satellite that will give him more understanding of the further gas giant planets, Uranus and Neptune. That satellite sends him sound signals with data. However, one day, he discovers some sound waves that did not look like normal data. In fact, they look like a message. He decides to send up a camera on the satellite. While going through the photos, he discovers a picture of a blue colored gas that looks strangly like it has a head and two arms. What's even more strange is that the had looks exactly like him ...**_

_Haven't really decided the genre other than sci/fi. See, I don't know if this is gonna work, but I've drawn some pictures to go with it so I'll upload them as quickly as I can so that you can see for yourself. If you didn't understand it, Yugi's made out of hydrogen. He lives on Neptune (_still haven't decided if I wanna do that_) and floats around space and sees the satellite and decides to play with it. Okay, if you think this won't work, then I won't do it. But wait until you see the pictures first._

_Oh, one more thing! I changed Yugi's mother's name from Kiara to Miyuki for this story only. She's still Kiara, but her name is Miyuki so that it's split between Japanese and Egyptian. Don't ask me why; I've thought long and hard, and this was the only way I could do this. Also, I really liked this one, so I may expand on it. I haven't really decided yet. If you think I can go further with the twins, then I might. Okay, that's all I wanted to say. (_little joke; see, I have laryngitis ... I can't speak ... forget it ..._)_

---

Atem Hassan paced around the waiting room in the maternity ward of the hospital. He was about to find out the gender of his baby that a girl named Miyuki Moto was carrying. Atem and Miyuki had dated for a while and thought that things were going well, so they had one special intimate night together, before they broke up the next week. However, a week after their break up, Miyuki announced to Atem that she was pregnant.

Atem was shocked at first. They were only juniors in high school. But, they worked together through Miyuki's first trimester and they were doing well so far. Today is the day Atem would find out if his child was a boy or a girl. That is … if Miyuki would ever arrive! She was usually late. Atem could understand now, since she was five months pregnant, but even before she was pregnant she had a hard time being on time. Atem turned when he heard the elevator door ding and Miyuki came out, in a wheelchair and being pushed by a male nurse.

"Can you take it from here, Ma'am?" Atem could see Miyuki cringe at being called '_Ma'am_'.

"Yes, I'll be fine. The father's right there." She motioned over to Atem, who did not quite understand the situation. Miyuki picked herself up from the wheelchair and walked over to Atem.

"What happened, why were you in a wheelchair?" He asked. Miyuki sighed.

"Oh, I was just a little tired so he offered to escort me up here." Atem eyed her suspiciously. His hands were on his hips.

"And you didn't notice his flirting?"

"Flirting? Atem, you read too much into things. He was just doing his job." Sometimes Atem became a little jealous when Miyuki received attention from other guys; even though they were not officially together anymore. Atem decided to shrug this one off and get to the reason why they were here in the first place.

"Fine, let's just sign in and get this show on the road." Miyuki agreed. They reached the desk and signed in. The receptionist told them that the doctor would see them shortly. Atem sat nervously in his seat. His leg kept moving from his nervousness. Miyuki, on the other hand, was perfectly calm. She was reading a baby magazine, trying to ignore Atem's constant nervous moving and not doing a very good job. Exhaling loudly and dropping the magazine to her lap, she finally turned to the father of her child.

"Atem, would you please calm down? You're not usually this nervous." Atem finally stood up.

"I can't help it. How can you stay so calm?" Miyuki smirked.

"It's easy when you have a growing baby in your stomach and too much moving could be dangerous to it." Atem rolled his eyes. He could never understand how Miyuki could always stay so calm even in the most intense situations. Finally, the door opened and a nurse appeared. He could tell she was there to call them because they were the only ones in that room. When they entered the room, Atem's nervousness once again took him over. He kept looking at all the posters and models of the female reproductive system. It made him feel a little uncomfortable. Sensing it, Miyuki groaned in frustration.

"Honestly, Atem! It's nothing you don't know about." Atem cocked his head in awe while looking at a model of a fetus in a woman's uterus.

"Yes, but seeing and knowing are two different things …" Miyuki rolled her eyes.

"Men are such idiots …" She said under her breath. Whether Atem heard her or not was unknown because he kept walking all over the room, arms folded. It was beginning to be a bit too much for Miyuki.

"Oh for God's sake!" She took Atem by the arm and forced him to sit down in a chair. "There; now stay there!" Atem made an attempt to get up and argue, but when a pregnant woman is pissed, she gets what she wants. "Don't even try!" Afraid to push her any further, Atem decided to be a good boy and sit quietly until the doctor came in. "Atem, when the doctor comes in, I want you to be silent. You have nothing to say. I'm going to do all the talking. You obviously can't handle this right now." The male teen was about to reply, but Miyuki stopped him. "Don't! You don't speak at all!" Like a sad puppy, Atem hung his head in obedience.

Finally, the door opened and a female doctor came in. She looked young, with blonde hair and a smile on her face. She could not have been much older than them. "Hello and how are we doing today?" Atem made a move to stand up and say something, but Miyuki placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"We're fine, Dr. Lamoine." Dr. Lamoine looked at Atem and smiled.

"And this must be the father." She held her hand out for Atem to shake it. "This must be your first time here, right?" Atem looked at Miyuki to make sure that it as alright for him to answer. She glared at him. Atem shook the doctor's hand anyway.

"I have nothing to say." He said, as if he had been programmed to say that. Dr. Lamoine just chuckled.

"Alrighty then; shall we get started?" Miyuki nodded and hopped back up onto the examination table. She lifted up her shirt and Atem stood beside her. Dr. Lamoine applied a cool gel to Miyuki's stomach, which gave the mother-to-be chills. The doctor turned on the monitor next to the examination table and a small, black and white picture appeared. Both Atem and Miyuki were able to stop their bickering and just enjoy the image they were seeing on the screen.

"Oh my God …" Atem said, not knowing that he had grabbed Miyuki's hand unconsciously.

"That's our baby …" Miyuki said, with a tone that sounded as if she were about to cry. Miyuki had to wipe the tears from her eyes. And when she did, Atem cried out:

"**OH MY GOD!**" This scared her.

"What, what is it?!" Atem pointed to the screen.

"Why does it have two heads?!" Miyuki squealed in horror. However, Dr. Lamoine just laughed.

"There are two heads because there are two babies." Both parents looked at the doctor as if she was the one with two heads.

"HUH?!" The doctor just kept smiling.

"You're having twins!" The parents-to-be dropped their jaws.

"Twins?" Miyuki's shock soon turned into excitement. "Isn't that wonderful, Atem? … Atem?" She looked over to see that the father of her twins had fainted.

---

After Atem had regained consciousness and registered in his mind that he was, in fact, having twins, he walked all the way home to his grandfather's game shop. Atem's grandfather, Solomon, had raised Atem since he was two. His father did not stay with his mother when they found out she was pregnant with Atem, and his mother did not have any patience for children. So she paid Solomon one thousand dollars a month to keep him out of her hair. Atem did not mind. He did not think much of his mother and thought the world of his grandfather. Anyway, Atem sluggishly entered the house that was connected to the small game shop. "Grandpa, I'm home …" Solomon came out of the kitchen, drying a plate.

"Welcome home." He disappeared back into the kitchen to put the dish away. Atem plopped down onto the sofa, his face covered by his hands. "So?"

"'So' what?" Solomon took a seat in his armchair with a smile on his face.

"Don't keep me in suspense; is it a boy or a girl?" Atem did not even lift his head to answer.

"… We don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know?" Atem still did not look at his grandfather.

"We found something else out instead …" The old man raised a brow and counted the possibilities on his fingers. Boy or girl. That was it. What else was left? Before he was able to ask the question, Atem answered. "It's twins." Solomon was overjoyed. He would have two great-grandchildren. When Atem had told his grandfather that he had gotten Miyuki pregnant, the old man had thrown a fit, saying how irresponsible Atem had been, lecturing him for hours, and saying that he was going to be forced to do the right thing and take care of Miyuki and the baby; which Atem was planning on doing anyway. He wanted to be noting like his own father.

"Twins …"

"Yes, that's exactly what I said … before I fainted." Solomon gave his grandson a confused look.

"Why did you faint?" Atem finally looked at Solomon.

"Because … it's twins! It was one thing when I thought there was only one, but two is just too much!"

"So you'll just have to adjust to one more baby; that won't be too difficult.

"But Grandpa, I was all set on having only one baby. Now I find out there's another and I'm going crazy! I don't know if I can handle two kids on my own."

"You won't be alone. You'll have me, your friends and Miyuki."

"But Miyuki and I aren't together anymore. We're going to split every-other-day. That was the agreement." Atem stood up, his voice was rising in, what Solomon assumed, was anger, "of course, that plan was made when we thought there was only going to be one baby!" He was fully yelling now.

"Atem, calm down. This not the babies' fault. They're not even born yet." Atem sighed.

"I know. I just need some time to take all of this in. Solomon stood up, not wanting to lecture Atem at this moment.

"Well, you have four months to accept this fact. If you can't by then, then maybe Miyuki and those babies would be better off without you." Atem's head snapped to his grandfather with a glare.

"How could you say that?!" Solomon shrugged.

"If you can't accept both children, then maybe you should just leave them alone. Think about this, Atem." With those words, the old man went upstairs. Atem sighed again. He knew his grandfather was right. He had to accept this twin thing or do nothing at all.

---

It took some time, but Atem was finally able to accept that he was going to be the father of twins. By the time Miyuki reached seven months, she was so big that she could hardly move around at all. If Miyuki's parents were not with her, Atem was. He did everything for her: he brought her food, drew her baths, massaged her shoulders, and tolerated her mood swings. He was basically her servant for the next few months.

Once month eight came around, it was time to talk about names. Atem wanted to give the babies Egyptian names, since that was his heritage, but Miyuki wanted to give them Japanese names, since that was her heritage. They clashed on this for a few weeks before deciding on half and half. One would have an Egyptian name while the other one had a Japanese name. Then there was the argument with the surname. Atem desperately wanted the babies to have his name, but Miyuki did too. They both agreed that they should not do the half and half thing this time. No, they would just come up with an alternative last name, using the letters from their own last names.

Finally, month nine came around. Since this was Miyuki's first pregnancy she had no idea what the contractions would feel like. She thought that every little pain in her stomach was a contraction. One time, she actually did go into false labor. Atem moved into her house, just so that he could be near her in case she actually did go into labor.

Then the day came where Miyuki's water broke. They both knew that this was it. Their babies were coming now! Atem tried to remain calm throughout the drive to the hospital, but he was sweating so badly that the driver's seat was practically soaked when he got up. While Miyuki was getting settled into her room, Atem was putting on scrubs so that he could witness the birth of his children. He had to take a couple of breaths before facing Miyuki. She kept up a calm smile the whole time, but Atem figured that if she was feeling anything like he was feeling, than she was probably faking it. He had to be strong now. He was going to have a family to take care of and that meant that fear could not have a place in his mind anymore. He knew that his grandfather and Miyuki's parents were out in the waiting room. Some how, those adults got along extremely well. Suddenly, he heard a scream and instantly knew it was Miyuki. He ran into the room just in time to see the first baby come out.

"What's going on?" He stupendously asked. Miyuki screamed her answer. A nurse turned and walked over to him.

"Dad, we could use your help here." Atem assumed that 'Dad' was him. He went to Miyuki and took her hand. She looked at him with a tired face and teary eyes.

"Atem, it hurts so bad!" The nurse gave Atem a mask and a washcloth. He put the mask on and dabbed Miyuki with the washcloth.

"You're doing great, Mee. Just think of those two beautiful babies waiting to meet you." Miyuki smiled. Atem did a good job of distracting Miyuki from the pain. The first baby was crowning.

"I can see the head." Dr. Lamoine said. "Ready, Miyuki? One … two … and push!" Miyuki tried to push out the first baby as hard as she could. When Atem failed to hear any crying sounds, he leaned over to see what was happening. Big mistake. He felt his stomach jump and was about to faint again when he remembered that he had to be strong for Miyuki. Finally, crying was heard. He looked over and saw a tiny baby, no longer than his forearm, in Dr. Lamoine's hands. Atem smiled. There was something he recognized.

"It's a boy!" Miyuki smiled, glad for a rest before she had to push again. The nurse took the first baby and went to get him cleaned up.

"Are you ready to do this again?" Dr. Lamoine asked. Miyuki groaned.

"I need ice …" Atem jumped at the opportunity to get her some ice chips. After Miyuki had her ice, it was time to push the second baby out.

"One … two … and push!" Miyuki did as instructed, but the baby did not want to come out. "Let's try again, okay?" Miyuki looked so exhausted.

"I don't know if I can …" Atem squeezed her hand.

"Yes you can." After the encouragement, Miyuki pushed again. However, the second baby was still not crowning.

"Something's wrong." Dr. Lamoine whispered to the nurse. It was loud enough for Atem to hear, and this was not the time to hear those words. He leaned down to Dr. Lamoine's level.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Dr. Lamoine looked at Atem from above her mask with concerned eyes. They spoke in whispers so as to not make Miyuki panic.

"Something is keeping the baby from crowning. I think we need to get Miyuki into a C-section in order to deliver this one." Atem gasped. "Please, Mr. Hassan, I don't want Miyuki getting upset or it might hurt the baby even more."

"So what are you going to do?" Dr. Lamoine sighed.

"We're going to give her anesthesia and start the surgery." Atem nodded, trusting the doctor's plan.

While Miyuki was getting prepped for the surgery, Atem took this opportunity to walk down to the nursery and visit his newly born son. As he walked, he was growing more and more concerned for Miyuki and the baby inside her. He had no idea as to what could cause the baby from being born, but he trusted that Dr. Lamoine would take care of it. When Atem reached the nursery he looked at all the little babies in there. He saw his and Miyuki's names on the crib and found his son. Atem smiled. However, the baby seemed to be crying, screaming actually. A nurse tried to calm him down, but could not. Everything seemed to be in order. He was just not happy. 'He must sense that his sibling is in trouble.' Atem thought. Atem decided to wait in the waiting room until this was all over.

The wait seemed to take forever. Atem's leg kept bouncing due to his nervousness. He still wore the scrubs that he had been wearing when the first baby was born. He must have paced around the waiting room at least ten times in the last hour. Luckily he was the only one there since Miyuki's parents and his grandfather went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. The C-section had been going on for the past few hours. It was taking too long and Atem was getting more and more worried by the minute. He began to pace again when the wait finally got to him. He was about to enter the room when Dr. Lamoine rushed out with a small, soundless bundle in her arms. Atem knew it was the second baby. A nurse came out and Atem stopped her.

"I need to know what's going on! What took so long? Is Miyuki alright? Where is she going with my baby?"

"Mr. Hassan, please calm down. Trust us to take care of things here." Atem looked at the nurse with pleading eyes.

"Please … please tell me what's wrong with my baby …" The nurse sighed and took him to the side. When she slid the mask down to her chin she had a defeated look on her face.

"Mr. Hassan, the baby wasn't breathing when he was delivered." Atem gasped. He had two baby boys and one was not healthy.

"What happened?"

"The reason the baby did not come out earlier was because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Atem's jaw dropped in horror. It's hard to tell how long he was trapped." Atem listened with only partial attention. His baby suffered strangulation before he was even born. Tears were welling up in his eyes. "Dr. Lamoine took him to the ER to see if she could get him to start breathing again." Atem swallowed the lump in his throat.

"How's Miyuki?"

"She's fine. She's sleeping off the anesthesia now." Atem did not know what to do. He was frozen with fear. Suddenly he felt a hand on his arm. The nurse smiled at him. "You have another baby that would love to meet his father right now." Atem nodded and began walking down to the nursery again.

After a while, Atem took the first born baby to meet his new grandparents. Miyuki was still asleep and there was really no word on the second baby yet. The teen decided that this would be a good time to get some answers. He left the baby with the grandparents and headed to the ER. There, he found Dr. Lamoine filling out some papers.

"Doctor …" Dr. Lamoine looked up and gave Atem a sad smile. "How is he?" The smile on the doctor's face soon faded.

"He's not breathing on his own right now. We have him hooked up to a machine in an incubator. He'll be kept in the ICU until he can breathe on his own. I'm afraid that there were more complications than just the umbilical cord." Atem was not sure if he wanted to hear any more but he needed to find out what was wrong with his son.

"What?"

"He has contracted an infection in his lungs, making it harder for him to regain his breath." Atem could not hold the tears back anymore.

"Doctor, be straight with me: do you think … he'll be alright?" Dr. Lamoine licked her dry lips, searching her mind for the right answer.

"Truth be told, he may not." Knowing that this was the only answer she was going to give him, Atem went back to his family. He did not know what to say. He had to tell Miyuki that their younger son may not live through the night, and would be lucky if he did. How do you break that kind of news to a woman who just gave birth to said son? As Atem walked slowly down the hall, he noticed that a few tears were falling from his eyes. He was so worried about his younger son that he found himself at the ICU instead of the waiting room to meet the grandparents.

There were other babies inside incubators in this room. Most of them had parents right by their side. Some had just their fathers, some had just their mothers, and some had both parents by their side. Towards the end of the room, he saw an incubator with a sign that said "Hassan/Moto" Atem walked over to that one, swallowing the lump in his throat. Inside was a teeny tiny unconscious baby. He was the same size as his brother, but he seemed to be a little thinner. He was pale as well. A sign that the doctor was correct when she told him that the baby was not getting enough air. Atem placed his arms through the holes that allowed him to touch his baby through a protective fabric. He remembered from the parenting classes, that he took with Miyuki, in which babies cannot survive without being touched. He reached inside and took the baby's fisted hand and held it in his own, caressing it with his thumb.

"Hello, Little One. It's me, your daddy." He received no response, but then again he did not expect one. Atem continued to caress his small son's fingers with his thumb. "I know you must be in a lot of pain right now, but please … you must get better. Your mother and I are looking forward to taking you home." Atem looked down, finding the floor to be very interesting at the moment. "And your brother, he knows that you're in pain … and he won't stop crying until you get better …"The teenage father could barely see the baby's stomach rise and fall. More tears fell from his eyes. This was the most heartbreaking moment of his life. He crouched down to the baby's level and whispered, "I know you have the strength in you, Baby. Please use that strength. Be strong … if not for me, than for your mother and your brother. All three of us need you." Towards the end of his speech, Atem noticed that his voice was starting to crack. He wanted so much to hold this tiny life in his arms and to give it so much comfort, but the incubator stood as a barrier between them. Reluctantly letting go of the baby's hand, Atem sadly made his way back to Miyuki's room.

When Miyuki finally awoke and found out of her second son's situation, she threw a screaming fit and would have scared the other baby had Atem's grandfather not had him in his arms. Miyuki demanded that Atem take her to the ICU, which he agreed to do. She stayed there long after Atem, his grandfather and her parents went home. The other baby was kept close to her so that she could nurse him and because, apparently keeping the twins close to each other was the only way to keep the elder baby from crying. Miyuki did not mind so much. It kept her close to both of her children and she was still able to nurse the elder baby as well.

---

The next morning, Atem went straight to the ICU. He knew that Miyuki would stay there as long as the nurses allowed. When he reached the ICU nursery, he saw Miyuki sleeping in a chair. She wore her hospital robe and looked as if she had not yet taken a shower. He saw the elder baby sleeping in a crib close to his brother's incubator. The young father thought for a second. The babies were two days old and everyone was still practically calling them '_Baby Moto/Hassan 1 and Baby Moto Hassan 2_.' That was a lot for two little kids to deal with.

"I think it's time to give you guys names." He said, looking at each baby. "And I think I have the perfect solution." He walked up to the sleeping elder baby and caressed the baby's cheek with his finger. "You'll be Heba." The baby's mouth muscles looked like they were trying to form a smile. Atem smiled as well and approached the incubator, looking at his youngest son, still struggling to breathe. "And you'll be Yugi."

"Why those names?" Startled, Atem turned around to see that Miyuki had awoken.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She stood up and stood beside Atem, looking into the incubator.

"You didn't. So why those names?" Atem smiled.

"Because we agreed on both an Egyptian name and a Japanese name. Both mean 'game' in those languages." Miyuki raised a brow, not really understanding the significance that Atem saw, but went along with it.

"Clever …"

"No, I mean … if Yugi can survive this ordeal, then he'll have won this game that life has challenged him with." Miyuki still did not understand, but she knew that Atem and his grandfather were both game fanatics.

"Okay, but what about Heba?"

"Well, Heba's already shown how close he is to his brother. I mean, come on; the only way to get him to stop crying was to keep him in here with Yugi. So he's playing this game too by cheering Yugi on to get better." Atem's explanation was pointless since Miyuki still could not understand. However, she noticed that he began to refer to each baby by the name he had given them, so she just decided to drop the subject.

"Okay, Heba and Yugi it is."

---

It took another three and half days, but Yugi's condition was steadily getting better. He was gaining color and a little bit of weight. When Heba was born, he was 5lbs 11oz while Yugi was 4 ½ lbs 9oz. He scared Dr. Lamoine and his parents for a while, but he soon matched Heba's weight. However, Dr. Lamoine still thought that their weight was not good enough and she did some tests on Heba. But, after everything game back fine, she figured it had to do with the babies' sizes and the fact that they were so small. Yugi's skin was also gaining color as well. Heba's skin was still a tad bit darker, but Yugi's was reaching the point where he did not look so sickly. Finally, on day three, Dr. Lamoine decided to try and take Yugi off of the breathing machine to see how he would do. Atem and Miyuki were so happy that he made it through the night. Dr. Lamoine was too so she decided to take him out of the incubator and let him sleep in a regular crib for the night but still in the ICU. Yugi made it through the night again and he was even starting to make sounds and open his eyes. Dr. Lamoine finally deemed him healthy enough to where the young parents could take him home.

While Atem helped the babies get settled into Miyuki's home, they were making cooing noises to each other. Atem had just put a box down and raised a brow when he saw his two sons in their car seats, cooing to one another. "Is it just me or do they seem to be having some kind of conversation?" He asked when Miyuki came into the room. Despite Atem's constant begging, Miyuki and her parents made a good point when they said that the babies would live at their house since they had a nice big house that could fit two babies and the fact that their mother was right there when they were hungry.

"Oh, don't be silly, Atem. They're only a week old." She picked Heba and Yugi up and placed them into the large crib that her parents had bought for them.

"I don't think it's so hard to believe. I mean, I've read studies that show that twins have some sort of psychic connection or something." Miyuki scoffed.

"Maybe when they're like, five, but not when they're infants." She looked down and began to make 'baby talk' to her sons. Both babies just looked at her, but she continued. Atem felt a little separation anxiety. It would not be until next weekend that he would have time with his sons.

"Alright, I guess I'll be going." Miyuki did not acknowledge him. She was too focused on the twins. "I'm heading out the door …" He added trying to get her attention. He wanted her to say he could stay and help with the boys, but still she paid him no mind. "I'm almost out the door …!" Still nothing. "I'm out the door!" When it was clear that Atem was not going to get a response, especially since the boys now were demanding to be fed, he sighed and left.

That night, Atem lied in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It just was not fair the way Miyuki and her parents had automatically decided where the twins would live. His grandfather tried to contradict them, but in the end, it made sense that the boys live at the Moto house since they had more space. Atem ached. It hurt having to only see his sons once every other week. Tears rolled down the young father's cheeks.

"Why …?" Just then, a knock came at the door and Grandpa entered the room.

"You should be asleep." Atem sighed and sat up, wiping his face.

"I can't sleep." Solomon entered the room and sat down on Atem's bed.

"I can see that." Atem sighed again. Finally, after five seconds of silence it was finally broken.

"It's not fair, Grandpa …"

"I take it you're not talking about your bedtime."

"No … why do they have to live at Miyuki's house? We have the guest room all set up for them." Grandpa sighed.

"You need to think what's best for the twins, Atem." Atem nodded. He knew his grandfather was right, but that did not mean that he had to like it. In his mind, it still was just not fair. He knew that the boys would be well taken care of, but the way that Miyuki's parents insinuated that Atem and his grandfather were …. poor; that just hit home. Atem frowned at the thought. He stood up and grabbed his coat.

"Atem, where are you going?"

"To get things straightened out." Before Solomon could even say 'no', his grandson was out the door.

---

As Atem reached the Moto Manor, he knocked harshly on the door until someone answered. Miyuki was that unfortunate person. "Atem, what are you doing here?" Without even waiting for an invite, Atem allowed himself to enter.

"Listen to me for a moment, Mee." Miyuki looked at him with a diaper in her hand. Atem placed his hand to his head and had to wait a second before finding the right words. "This is killing me." In confusion, Miyuki looked out the window.

"It's only rain, Atem." Atem shook his head.

"No! This situation! I can't stand not being able to see my sons for more than one day every other week." Miyuki exhaled exaggeratingly.

"Atem, we've discussed this."

"No, you've discussed this!" Miyuki was surprised when Atem was suddenly in her face, yelling. She had never seen him so worked up. He was usually such a laid back person. "You and your parents decided to keep me out of their lives!_ I NEVER SAID ANYTHING!_" Just then, two infant cries were heard. Miyuki glared at Atem before she went to tend to her children, their father close behind.

In the twins' room, both babies were crying. Heba seemed to be the one that started crying first, then ticking Yugi off into crying with him. "Oh, my babies … what's the matter?" Miyuki picked Yugi up and cradled him in her arms as Atem did the same with Heba. The only response was more crying. Heba's volume rose again, causing Yugi's to rise as well.

"Hey, come on guys … everything's alright … nothing's going to hurt you … You're both safe." Atem gave Heba a kiss on the forehead and Heba's crying began to stop. However, Yugi was still screaming his head off. Miyuki could not find out what was causing her baby to be so upset. She looked over to see that Atem had calmed Heba down, and the little baby was just enjoying being in the company of his father. A tear of frustration began to flow down Miyuki's cheek.

"Atem, how did you do it?" Atem looked at her, a brow raised. "I can't get Yugi to stop crying." Atem walked over to see his other son and gave him the same kiss on the forehead that he gave Heba.

"Shh, it's alright, Yugi. You're safe … you're loved … there's no need to fear." Atem nuzzled the younger baby's cheek with his lips. Soon, Yugi's crying began to stop just like Heba's. Atem took Yugi into his arms and held both babies, one on each arm. He was so happy that he could be here to help with his sons, and he felt even happier, thinking that it was because of him that his twin boys wanted. Both babies looked at their father and cooed. Atem could not stop smiling at both of them. He loved his children and needed to be with them. He was going to start up that argument again when Miyuki beat him to it.

"Atem, I'm sorry that my parents made that decision without talking to you first. It seems that I can't do this alone. Even though my parents are a big help, they need you too." Atem smiled. Miyuki smiled back at seeing how happy her boys were. "How about we share custody, every other day." Atem's eyes lit up. That was so much better than every other weekend.

"You mean it?" Miyuki nodded. Atem's smiled grew as he looked down at the twins. "You hear that boys? You'll be staying with Daddy tomorrow!"

"Uh, how about the day after tomorrow." Atem looked up, a little disappointed.

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm trying to get them familiar with being in one place for a while. The day after tomorrow, so that I have enough time to get their … food together." Atem nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. It did not matter to him so long as he was able to see more of his children.

---

A year passed and it was time for the twins to celebrate their first birthday. The deal of every-other-day custody was working out perfectly. The boys saw enough of both parents. During school days that, the twins would either stay with Miyuki's mother, who stayed home, or Solomon. It was a good thing that the Game Shop was connected to their house, that way Solomon could run his business and check on the boys when business was slow.

Both boys were energetic and healthy. Heba seemed to be the leader of the two. When he wanted to get them into trouble, Heba would be the one to commit the crime and Yugi would follow him. As long as both were punished together, they did not seem to mind. Even as young as nine months, differences in personalities were beginning to surface. Heba was outgoing and spoke out for the two. Yugi usually was more laid back and went along with whatever Heba did, kind of like backing him up. Heba seemed to be protective of Yugi. When they were around eight months old, Yugi was showing signs of tiredness and loss of appetite. His parents wanted to take him to the doctor and leave Heba with Great-Grandpa when Heba grabbed Yugi and held him in a protective hug. Yugi hugged his brother back and both looked at their parents with looks that seemed to say: '_you take one, you take both of us_'.

Heba and Yugi were very close. The first time Atem and Miyuki took them to a babysitter for the first time to get them acquainted with other children, a few of those children tried to take advantage of Yugi's good nature and took all his cookies, but Heba yelled at them and took the cookies back and gave them to their rightful owner. They stayed isolated with each other for a long time after that, but they were getting better with their playmates. These were the children that were going to be at the party today.

It was a few hours before the birthday party for the twins began and Atem was going to take Heba and Yugi out to the mall to buy them new clothes for their birthday party. Miyuki would have done it, and Atem would have preferred her to, but she had to take the SATs. Atem would take them in the next semester. Atem knew that two babies were still a little too much for him to take to the mall on his own; especially two very energetic babies that tended to run away out of curiosity a lot. So he invited tow backups: Joey and Tristan; or known to the twins as Uncle Joey and Uncle Tristan.

"Alright, are we ready?" He asked as if he were a general taking command of an army. Tristan seemed to have Yugi in his jacket and gave him a sucker for being such a good boy. However, Joey was having trouble getting Heba into his jacket. He had the tanner twin in his lap, trying to get Heba's left arm into the jacket.

"You know, this is a harder job den it looks!" Joey said, struggling to get a screaming Heba into the jacket. Heba's screaming began to turn into a whining cry. Tristan came in with Yugi holding his hand and a sucker in Yugi's other hand. Joey looked over with jealous eyes.

"Hey, how'd ya get your kid to cooperate?!" Tristan shrugged with a smirk.

"That's 'cause I got the good twin and you got the evil one." Tristan looked down at Yugi who was silently sucking on the lollypop. As Heba continued to whine, Joey was getting more and more frustrated.

"Well, I could use a little help here!" Atem laughed and went to help out. He held Heba's kicking legs and Joey was able to get Heba's left arm into the jacket. Heba, seeing that he was losing this game, screamed in Atem's face, hoping that Daddy would give up. However, when Atem glared at him, he knew he was on the edge of being spanked.

"Heba! Knock that off right now or no lollypop for you!" Heba continued to whine a little bit and decided to give into the torment since he really wanted that lollypop. However, he made it as much of a chore as it could be. As soon as the jacket was on and the lollypop was in his hand, he jumped off Uncle Joey's lap and joined his brother, glaring at Daddy. Atem gave him a stern look and pointed a finger at him. "Hey, you be good, or I'll tell Mommy." Heba always stopped his tantrums after that. He knew that Daddy was a buddy, but Mommy was the disciplinarian. Heba just licked his lollypop and kept quiet. Happy with that Atem proceeded to get the stroller into the car.

Finally, everyone was in the car. Heba and Yugi sat in their car seats, singing to each other in their own language. Atem drove while Tristan sat in the passenger seat and Joey say with the boys. Joey started swaying with the boys singing. It was really cute. They were so happy to be getting out and they sang in perfect key. They soon arrived at the mall.

Atem took out the double stroller and safely secured each twin inside. Once they entered the mall, Heba and Yugi's jaws dropped. This was such a big place … at least from their point of view. There were people walking all over the place. Their energy was rising. So much that they wanted out of the stroller. Atem allowed that to happen, so long as one of the three adults was with them. Atem had the boys hold onto his pockets. This way, he knew they were there and they could still look around. He really had to keep his eye on Heba because the elder of the pair was the one that usually started the trouble. Both boys held onto one of Atem's legs. This was a little overwhelming to them. Atem smiled.

"Well, let's go shopping." He really wished Miyuki was here. She was going to have to approve his work anyway. The two twins and the three teens walked into the first corridor. There were plenty of stores that sold children's' clothes, but Atem just could not pick a store that he knew Miyuki would like. She was kind of anal when it came to the twins' clothes. They needed to be best of quality and of course easy to wash. Finally, they found the Gap. Atem knew this was one of Miyuki's favorite places to shop for the boys. No matter what he bought here, he knew she'd love them. "Come on, boys. Let's get you guys some new clothes." Atem, Joey and Tristan went all over to find the right outfit while the boys watched Daddy and his friends go nuts. Heba looked at Yugi and nudged him. Heba got down out of the stroller and Yugi followed him. Heba took Yugi's hand and they wandered out of the store. Yugi looked back at Atem, who had not noticed his sons' departure, and waved before joining his brother.

Finally, Atem returned to the stroller with armfuls of clothes. "There, that should be enough." As he looked at the empty stroller, he dropped all the clothes. "JOEY! TRISTAN!" Not only did he gain the attention of the said two, he also gained the attention of every customer in the outlet store. They ran over to the father.

"What's up, man?" Atem's scared eyes did not leave the stroller.

"My babies are gone …" The blonde and the brunette did a double take.

"**WHAT?!**"

"We need to find them!" Atem took off while Joey and Tristan followed pushing the stroller.

With the boys, Yugi looked at his brother, asking if they should go back.

"Neh!" Heba said, obviously saying 'no'. He wanted to explore. And what store did he see first? The candy store! Both boys squealed in delight and waddled towards the candy they saw. As soon as they entered the store, Atem stopped right outside and turned to his friends.

"Joey, you take the West wing, Tristan, you take the East, and I'll take the North!" The other two nodded and ran off, calling Heba and Yugi's names as they did. Inside the candy store, while Heba dug into the jellybean bin, Yugi looked toward the entrance, thinking he heard his name being called by Daddy. When he did not see his father anywhere, he turned his attention back to Heba. Heba finally came back down with his hands full of jellybeans. Heba and Yugi both saw two different things. Heba saw the toy store while Yugi saw a merry-go-round. Both ran into different directions.

Meanwhile …

"Heba! Yugi! Where are you?!" The three teenagers called from all different points of the mall. After a thirty minute search, they met up at the food court, coming from three different directions.

"Any sign of them? Atem asked. Joey and Tristan shook their heads. Atem's fear began to rise to even higher levels. Worse case scenarios continued to run through his mind.

"Nah, man. But at one point, I thought I found one, and I tried to take the kid, but it turned out the mom was there and she slugged me with a right hook right here, see the bruise?" Joey said, pointing to his eye. He was right. It was black. Both Atem and Tristan cringed but then the situation returned to Atem's twins.

"Well, we gotta find them!" Tristan said.

"Hey, I know I'm only lookin' through one eye, and I don't wanna make the same mistake twice, but does that look like one of 'em up there on the merry-go-round?" Atem and Tristan spun around just in time to see Little Yugi trying his best to climb up onto the ride.

"Yugi!" Atem ran to him. Before Yugi could get onto the ride, Atem scooped him up in his arms and hugged him so tightly that Joey and Tristan thought that he was going to choke him.

"D'da!" Yugi said with a smile while he hugged him back. Atem planted relieved kisses all over Yugi's face.

"You're safe …" Joey and Tristan looked around,

"Uh … hold on there, 'Tem …" Joey said. Atem looked at them.

"Yeah, uh … it looks like you're one twin short." Atem's eyes widened and he gasped.

"We're still missing Heba!" He said. The other two teens nodded. Joey pointed at him.

"Bingo." Atem began to hyperventilate, but then an idea struck him. He placed Yugi on the floor and knelt down to his level.

"Yugi, you know we have to find your brother, right?" Yugi swayed back and forth before nodding. All He knew was that Atem had asked him a question, not exactly what he was asked. "Alright, and do you know where Heba is?" Yugi turned around to take a look around to see if Heba was anywhere in sight. Then, he remembered. Yugi turned back around and nodded. Atem smiled, causing Yugi to smile back. "Do you think you can take us to him?" Yugi nodded. Atem smiled as they followed Yugi to where his brother might be. Yugi waddled in front while Atem kept a close eye on him so that he did not wander too far away again. Tristan nudged him in the elbow.

"Dude, we're following a one-year-old to look for another one-year-old. How exactly is this going to work?"

"Heba and Yugi are very close to one another. I know they have that twin-telepathy thing with each other. Whenever one is hurt or scared, the other always seems to come to the rescue. I know Yugi will take us to Heba."

"But what if he doesn't?" Joey asked. Atem smiled at his younger son waddling in front of them.

"I know he will. Yugi needs Heba as much as Heba needs Yugi. They'll always find each other." Just as this was said, Yugi headed straight into the toy store. There, Heba was playing with a Fisher-Price farm set. He had a plastic cow in one hand and a pig in the other.

"Moooo." He said, looking at the cow and then giggled.

"Ah-bah!" Heba heard that call and knew that it was his brother. Heba stood up and waddled to where the sound, "A-bah", was coming from. He spotted Yugi and his eyes lit up.

"EEgi!" He called. Yugi smiled at his brother and the both ran to hug one another. They spun around with their arms around each other, giggling. They were so glad to be back together. Not too far behind were Atem and the Uncles. Heba and Yugi were so happy to be back together that they did not notice when Atem let out a loud sigh of relief. Secretly, he had no idea that following Yugi would _actually _work. Joey and Tristan were astonished.

"Well I'll be! Dey really found each –uhddduh." Joey said. Tristan slapped him on the back.

"Hah! You owe me fifty bucks!" Atem said nothing as he scooped up his boys. The twins hugged their father as he gave them kisses all over the face. He was so happy that they were safe and sound.

"Thank God you're safe." He had one hand on each of their shoulders. As soon as the reunion was finished, Atem gave them a stern look. "You two are in so much trouble." Heba and Yugi just giggled. This was a really great game.

---

Later that afternoon, Atem was able to give the boys a bath and change them into their new clothes. They each wore matching "Gap" hoodies, dark blue jeans and tennis shoes. Only by the skin tone could one differentiate one from the other. There were ten children downstairs waiting to meet the guests of honor. Joey and Tristan offered to help get the boys ready. Miyuki and her parents were downstairs trying to help Solomon handle the children.

"Guys," Atem started, looking Joey and Tristan in the eye, "let's keep this little outing between us, alright? Miyuki doesn't need to know about it." Joey and Tristan smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. Atem smiled back and looked down at the twins. "That means you too." Heba and Yugi gave two tiny thumbs-up as well.

"Aww, ain't dat cute?" Joey said.

Downstairs, Miyuki and Tea had to entertain the children until Heba and Yugi came down. "Okay, kids. I know you're all here for Heba and Yugi's birthday, but they don't seem to be here." All the children looked around. Most of them were around the twins' age, but some were a few months older. "Where could they be?"

"That's a good question, Mee." Tea said. She smiled and looked at the children. Each one had a party hat on. "I'll bet that if we make some noise with these kazoos, they'll make an appearance." As scripted as this entire thing seemed, the children seemed to be having fun.

"That's a good idea, Tea. Let's make some noise and maybe our friends will hear us. Ready? One … two … three!" All ten children blew into their kazoos and made a large noise. Once Miyuki said that that was enough, two kazoos upstairs began to play. Heba and Yugi continued to play their kazoos as Atem lead them down the steps.

"Tah-dah!" The twins said in unison. All the children cheered. Now the fun could begin.

"Heba, Yugi I think Great-Grandpa has something outside for you and your friends." Atem said. The twins lead the stampede of toddlers out to the backyard. When they got there, all the children gasped at the giant piñata tied to the branch of the old oak tree.

"Someone want to come and hit this thing?"

"YEEEEEAAAHHH!!!!!" The children all tried to reach the bat at once before Mr. Moto had to file them into a single-file line. Heba was first since he was the oldest. After being blindfolded by grandma, he swung a few times, but only just tapped the piñata on the last swing. Yugi was next, but he missed all together. Each child took his or her turn, but the piñata was still intact.

"Oh, poor kids. You guys gotta hit harder so the goodies can come out!" Tristan said, demonstrating a swing. Atem smirked.

"Alright, Tristan, if you're such an expert, why don't you take a turn?" Tristan blushed.

"Oh, well, you know … this is for the kids …" Joey balled out laughing.

"It's 'cause he can't hit a tee-ball on a stand!" Tristan cringed and then took Joey by the collar, who continued to laugh.

"You swore you'd never mention that again!" Joey just continued to laugh.

"Well then, why not redeem yourself, Tristan?" Atem said. This was clearly a challenge. Without waiting for a reply, Atem tied the blindfold around Tristan's eyes.

"Uh … guys? I don't think this is such a good idea …"

"Oh, come on, Tristan. Give the kids their treats." Through the blindfold, Tristan could hear the children cheering him on. They wanted the candy.

"Okay, for the kids!" Everyone cheered. Tea moved Tristan under the piñata and Solomon raised it. Joey spun Tristan around a few times before they finally allowed him to swing. 'This is it … after years of trying to avoid baseball bats; you gotta do this for the kids!' Tristan braced himself before he took a big swing … and …

WHACK!

The piñata broke into two pieces, spilling candy everywhere. The children cheered and went to collect their fair share. Joey patted Tristan on the shoulder.

"Way ta go, man!" Miyuki's parents told the children to sit in a circle while they cleaned up the candy and sorted it into little baggies for everyone. The rest of the day went perfectly. There were more games to play like Musical Chairs, Hot Potato, and Red Rover. All of which, Heba and Yugi won. Atem was flattered to see that his sons took after him. After the games, a birthday lunch was served, followed by a sing-a-long, then presents and finally cake and ice cream. Heba and Yugi blew out their candle shaped like the number one together. Each child went home with a party bag and a piece of cake.

After the party, Atem, Miyuki, Joey, Tristan, Tea and the adults all had to clean up while Heba and Yugi played for a while before tiring themselves out. Miyuki decided to let them stay at the Game Shop since they were already sleepy. Atem rocked the boys in the rocker until they both fell asleep in his lap. He thought to himself that he had the best children ever. Maybe a little mischievous, but good kids nonetheless. He placed them in their crib and gave each one of them a kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, my little adventurers."

---

_The End_


	14. Seperation Anxiety

_This one may be a little drawn out and boring, but it's a continuation of the last story. Here's the summery:_

_Heba and Yugi are too close, and will not socialize with other children their age, so their parents decide to do an experiment to see if one could function without the other._

---

Things had been going well for the first few months since the twins' first birthday. The seemed to be getting even closer as each day came and went. Heba seemed to become the more vocal of the two. He was always standing up for his younger brother, Yugi, who was very relaxed and did as he was told; even if it was Heba who told him.

The two were best friends. They had other friends, of course, but they always stayed together when they were out in public or in their play group. One could not be seen without the other. However, this closeness was beginning to worry their parents, especially the way Heba would act around other children when it came to Yugi. Whenever Yugi would try to play with another child in their play group, Heba would yell at the child and escort Yugi away. It seemed that he was very possessive about his younger brother. Miyuki had discussed this with Atem, and talking to other parents of twins, they decided that Heba and Yugi needed some time apart from each other.

So it was agreed that for the next week, at least, Heba would live with Miyuki and Yugi would live with Atem. This followed one of the weekends the twins spent with Atem.

As the young father looked at his twin sons, playing blocks with each other and speaking their own little language, Atem let out a sigh. He really did not want to separate them, but both boys needed to learn that there were other people in the world, no just each other. So the next morning, when Miyuki came over to pick the boys up, only one of them would go. Suddenly, there came a screaming sound from the living room. One of Atem's sons had screamed. With his parental instincts kicking in to overdrive, Atem rushed down the stairs. While he did, another scream came from the living room. Atem came to a screeching halt when he entered the living room.

"Boys, are you alright?!" But what he saw made his adrenaline stop in its tracks. Yugi as the one that was screaming. Heba stood on the couch, holding a block up in the air away from his brother while he jumped up and down, trying to get the toy that was being denied to him.

"EEEHHHEE!!!!" Yugi screamed. Heba smirked down at his younger brother and blew a raspberry. Yugi screamed again, this time in anger. As the two toddlers continued with their spew, Atem slapped his face with his hand. He thought that this was an actual emergency. But, as father, he needed to interfere.

"Alright, that's enough! Heba, you come down from there this instant!" Hebe blew another raspberry, only this time it was aimed at his father. Both twins laughed at this. "Hey! Knock that off! Heba, get down from the couch right now and give Yugi his block back!" Being the rebel that Heba was, he began to jump up and down on the couch. Atem's anger struck. He really hated it when Heba disobeyed him. He marched into the living room and picked the elder twin up, causing him to drop the block.

Heba screamed as Atem picked him up. He kicked his legs, trying to make Atem put him down.

"Heba, stop acting like this!" Atem continued to try and manhandle Heba, Yugi quickly scooped up the block and ran off. He did not like to get in the middle of arguments between his brother and his daddy.

Heba continued to throw a tantrum in Atem's arms. Why did Heba have to act this way with him?! He never acted like this for Miyuki; he was always a little angel with her. This was one of the reasons, if not the number one reason, why they had decided that Heba would stay with their mother. "Heba, for the last time, stop acting like this, or you're going to get a time out!" Heba screamed again. Yugi watched his brother and his daddy fight from a safe corner. Finally, Atem was able to get Heba's form under his arm, quite literally kicking and screaming. The two went upstairs, leaving Yugi all by himself. Realizing this, the youngest twin waddled after the two.

The twins had just learned to climb the stairs. Still, Yugi was a little afraid of all the stairs he had to climb. There were so many, and they were so big. Heba and Yugi were considerably small for their age. Yugi whimpered a little bit, but decided to try and climb the stairs. He could still hear Atem and Heba yell at each other.

So, very carefully, Yugi picked up his tiny left leg and pulled himself onto the first step. Mission accomplished; one down, too many to go.

Yugi continued this cycle until he reached the top of the stairs. He followed the sounds of Heba's tantrum and was lead to their room, where Atem was trying to sit Heba down in a chair to put him in time-out.

"Heba, I have had it up to here with your attitude! Now you keep that little butt of yours in that chair, and you don't move until I say so!" Heba blew a raspberry at his father, but did as he was told; but that did not mean that he was going to be quiet. Atem rolled his eyes and turned to leave when he saw Yugi standing in the doorway with a frightened look in his eyes. He had heard Daddy yell at Heba before, but never that loud, and never that threatening. It was so scary that it even made Heba cooperate … a little.

At seeing the look of horror in his younger son's eyes, Atem's heart sank. "Yugi … what are you doing here?" Yugi did not answer. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Yugi, wait!" Atem reached the hall and his younger son was nowhere to be seen. "He vanished …" Atem whispered to himself. He looked around before he heard a small noise coming from his own room. He rolled his eyes. "My room …" He whispered to himself again.

The young father walked into his room and looked around before he saw two tiny feet quickly pull themselves under the bed. Atem smiled a little bit; he would have thought this was an adorable sight had he not been beating himself up inside for scaring the little boy. Atem sighed. He went over to the bed and knelt down to the floor. He lifted the blankets to see a scared little Yugi shaking in the corner. Atem's heart broke.

"Yugi, please come out from under there …" Yugi replied by scooting further into the corner. "Yugi, please don't be scared, I'm sorry I yelled. I didn't mean to yell so loud, but Heba does not listen unless I do." Yugi began to whine softly, tears forming in his eyes. His constant quivering forced them to fall down his round, pink cheeks. "Oh, baby, please don't cry … I promise, I never meant to scare you." Atem scooted closer, but that just caused Yugi to scoot further away. Atem sighed again. Just then, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see that it was Grandpa.

"Atem, what are you doing?"

"Yugi's hiding under the bed because I accidently scared him."

"How did you do that?" Atem stood up; he had lost the feeling in his knees anyway.

"Well, Heba was teasing Yugi, so I"---

"Oh don't tell me you two began to yell again …" Now he understood why Yugi was so scared. Yugi hated loud noises, and could not stand yelling.

"Well, he wouldn't listen to me! He kept Yugi's favorite toy from him and then he started jumping up and down on the couch when I told him to get off!" Solomon had to hold back a chuckle. Heba really knew how to push Atem's buttons and he enjoyed ever minute of it.

"Well now look what happened." Atem sighed.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Heba won't listen to me unless I yell." Solomon stood with his arms folded in a way that suggested that he knew something that Atem did not.

"Heba pushes your buttons because you let him; ignore him once in a while and his behavior will improve."

"How do you know?"

"Because that's what I did to you." Atem was taken back for a second.

"What? You ignored me?!" Solomon chuckled.

"I'll go check on Heba. You fix things here with Yugi." And with that he walked away. Atem sighed and returned to trying to coax Yugi out from under the bed.

At seeing how scared Yugi actually was, Atem could hardly take it anymore. "Baby, please don't be scared; it hurts me to think that you might be scared of me …" A tear fell down Atem's face and he smiled. "Look, I'm sad now … you don't want Daddy to be sad, do you?"

Yugi tilted his head in confusion. Why was Daddy crying? Yugi had made him cry, so he had to make Daddy feel better. Yugi crawled out from under the bed and approached his father. Atem so badly wanted to pull his younger son into his arms and tell him that everything would be alight but resisted the urge so as not to frighten little Yugi even more.

Yugi was the one who broke the ice. He waddled over to his father and hugged him. Carefully, Atem wrapped his arms around Yugi and smiled. Yugi was not scared of him anymore.

"I'm sorry, Yugi; I promise I won't yell like that again." Yugi squealed happily.

"Eeeyaay!" Atem laughed, which caused Yugi to laugh too. Now that that problem was settled, perhaps he could fix the problem with Heba. "Let's go see if Heba's ready to play nicely." Yugi did not reply, so Atem picked him up and walked back into the twins' room.

Inside, he saw Heba playing with his little farm figurines.

"Heba!" Heba looked at Atem as if asking him what he wanted and then returned to playing. "I thought I told you to--!"

"Atem," Grandpa stood outside the room with his arms folded.

"What did I tell you?"

"But he's"--- Solomon just shook his head. Atem sighed and put Yugi down so that he could go play. As he watched his twin son play, giggle and communicate through that little language of theirs, he decided to let Heba's behavior go this time. It seemed that Heba only behaved around his mother and his brother. He hoped that this separation would help with that.

---

About an hour later, Miyuki arrived to pick the boys up ... well, one of the boys. As soon as Miyuki opened the door to the apartment adjacent to the game shop, the boys were ecstatic.

"MAMA!" They yelled in happy unison. Both boys ran into their mother's arms as fast as they could.

"My babies, I missed you!" She had an arm around each one of them. Atem came down as soon as he heard the soft knock on the door.

"Hello, Miyuki." Said woman smiled.

"Hello, Atem. Have you taken care of my boys?" Atem rolled his eyes.

"No, I killed one and cloned the other. Yes, I took care of them!" Miyuki laughed.

"So, is Heba ready to go?" She was talking to Atem, but the boys heard her, hardly understanding what she was saying. Atem picked up Heba's backpack and gave it to the mother of his children.

"Yes, everything he needs is in his backpack." Heba and Yugi recognized their backpacks. Yugi was given the color purple and Heba was given the color blue. Usually the two bags were always together, but seeing only Heba's bag was giving them a strange message. Miyuki took the little bag and Heba's hand.

"Okay, we're all ready to go." She bent down and gave Yugi a kiss on the cheek. "You be good for Daddy, okay?" Yugi looked at Heba with wide eyes. Both twins finally understood what was happening. They looked at each other in horror.

Before the two parents could say anything else from each other, Heba ripped his hand out of Miyuki's.

"NO!" He yelled before he ran over to Yugi and pulled him into a hug. Yugi hugged his brother back, both tight enough and practically impossible to pull apart.

"Heba, what are you doing? We have to go." Miyuki said. Both twins shook their heads.

"NO!" They exclaimed in unison. Atem glared at his sons.

"Now, boys, don't act like this; you need some time apart." The boys did not really understand what Atem was saying, all they understood was the idea that they were not going to be together. At seeing that there was hardly a move from the twins, Atem and Miyuki walked to the boys and pulled them apart. Both baby twins screamed for each other. Atem held into Yugi while Miyuki held Heba. Heba kicked and screamed for his brother while Yugi just screamed with his arms reaching out.

"You better go while you have the chance." Atem said. Miyuki nodded and walked out the door with Heba.

Yugi screamed even louder. He could not believe that his mother forgot to take him with her. And even worse, he could not believe that she had taken Heba away from him. The younger twin was scared. Who was going to protect him? He was not as aggressive as Heba, and was not as brave. Soon, Yugi began to kick like crazy just as his twin brother did for Miyuki and Atem had to put him down. Yugi ran, or quickly waddled, over to the window to see if his mother and brother were still there. He could not see either of them.

"Mama! Abah!" He screamed for his mother and Heba.

Atem watched as Yugi continued to call out for said family members. His heart broke again. As much as he loved Heba, he did not think that they would get along too well all week if they were left alone with each other.

He realized that Heba and Yugi completed each other. Heba was the old, more protective one that stood up for Yugi and never took any crap from anyone, much like himself. And Yugi was the younger, gentler, one that just wanted to make everyone happy. In a way, they completed each other. Atem knew that his boys were special, but like all twins, they needed time apart so that they could develop their individuality and not be so dependant on one another. Yugi needed to learn to stand up for himself, and Heba needed to learn to get along better with others. But both Atem and Miyuki knew that one of them could not achieve their goal if the other gets in the way. So they decided to separate the two.

Yugi continued to look out the window in hopes that his mother and Heba would come back.

"Mama … 'Abah …" Atem sighed as he walked over to Yugi. Yugi looked at him with as sad face. " …No Mama …"

"I know, Baby …" Yugi began to whimper sadly, tears becoming too much for his young eyes as they fell down his cheeks. Atem picked Yugi up. "Come on, Yugi. We'll have a lot of fun, just the two of us." He wanted to sound convincing, but he did not believe that he had achieved his goal. Yugi rested his head on his father's shoulder and groaned. "Come on, let's go get some dinner."

---

Once the table was set and dinner was on the table, Atem collected Yugi and placed him in one of the two highchairs. Solomon and Atem started off by talking about nothing in particular, but then Solomon noticed that his great-grandson was not eating the little chopped up pieces of ham in front of him, but more like just moving them around. Atem observed this too. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yugi, you need to eat, Baby." Yugi looked at his father with large, sad eyes.

"'abah …"

"Heba's not here, he's with Mommy. You'll see him again in a week." Yugi did not understand what his father was saying. All he knew was that his big brother, the person he had never been apart from at all in his life, was not with him now. Yugi still refused to eat his food, but Solomon made the baby eat at least five bites of food before he could get out of the highchair and go watch the window again, just in case Mommy and Heba came back.

---

Later, Atem had Yugi take a bath, and he added extra toys to try and cheer Yugi up, but that did not work very well. It was late in the night when Atem was awoken by the voice of his younger son.

"D'da, D'da!" he called. Atem sighed. He knew that Yugi would eventually wake him up in the night, but that still did not mean that he liked it. Sluggishly, Atem rose from his bed and made his way to the twins' room.

When he opened the door, he saw the adorable sight of Yugi standing at the edge of the crib in his little blue feetie pyjamas. The bars on the crib came up to about the twins' height since the boys were very small themselves. Yugi's eyes looked red, showing that he had been softly crying.

"What's the matter, Yugi?" Yugi tried to hold out his arms towards his father, but the bars were too tall. Atem sighed.

"I should have known; you're not used to sleeping alone. Heba's been right by your side ever since you were born." Yugi started jumping up and down in impatience. Atem was correct; Yugi was not used to being alone, and as a result, he hated being alone. Atem picked Yugi up, not forgetting to take the little panda bear stuffed animal that Yugi loved as he did. He took Yugi back into his room and placed him on the bed. As Atem settled down under the covers, he saw Yugi looking at him with a sad look in his eyes, clutching the panda bear.

"Yugi, please stop looking at me like that." Yugi just cuddled into his father's side even more. He really hated being alone. Atem ran his fingers through what little hair Yugi's head had.

"You were really scared, weren't you?" Yugi did not answer but his shivering was enough to answer the question on its own. The young father sighed again as Yugi tried to climb up onto his stomach. Atem let Yugi do what he wanted as he tried to get comfortable. Once Yugi was comfortable, Atem ran his hand through his son's short hair. This was going to be a long week.

---

Just as Atem predicted, the week of separation was a long one. With Miyuki, Heba kept throwing fit, after fit, after fit. Miyuki was forced to discipline him almost every day. She had to miss three days of school that week due to her son's behavior. This was his way of telling her that he missed his brother and he wanted him now. This was a side of Heba that Miyuki had never seen before; he was always a little angel around her. Now she saw what Atem kept telling her all the time.

Atem was not much better. Although Yugi did not go on a destructive rampage like his brother, he sat by the window all day, watching and waiting for his mother and brother to come back. Every time a car passed by, he would mutter 'mama' in a question form, and look heartbroken when it passed. Because Yugi would not eat or play, Atem had to miss school as well, just to make sure that his little baby was alright. On Wednesday, Atem almost cracked and took Yugi to see Miyuki and Heba, but Solomon stopped him before he could reach the one-and-a-half year old.

Thank God it was Saturday; the day the twins would be reunited. In Atem's mind, this experiment had completely blown the second Heba and Yugi left sight of each other. Once again, Yugi sat perched at the window, watching cars pass by and wishing that at least one of them would turn out to be Mommy's car. Atem sighed and went to sit with his baby boy.

"Baby, what are you doing?" He asked, already knowing. Yugi did not look at him; he just kept staring out the window.

"Mama …" Atem sighed again and gave Yugi a kiss on the head. Yugi did not even acknowledge it. He just continued to stare out the window. His little fingerprints were smeared all over the same spot.

"Do you want to go outside?"

"No …"

"Now about a walk in the park?"

"No …" Tears were starting to fill his eyes. Atem gave up. In a few minutes, things would be back to normal.

He went into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water when he heard the muffled roar of an engine as a car pulled into the driveway. Then he heard that sweet little voice that he had been trying to get Yugi to use all week.

"**MAMA**!" Atem quickly ran into the room as Miyuki and a screaming Heba walked in. As soon as Heba saw Yugi, his screaming stopped.

"Eegi!"

"Abah!" The twins ran towards each other and quickly embraced one another in a big hug. Atem smiled and then looked at Miyuki; she looked exhausted. The young father's smile turned into a smirk.

"What's got you all screwed up?" He asked with a sly voice. Miyuki glared at him. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair was messed up, and she did not have any makeup on.

"Shut up!" She snapped. Atem continued to smirk.

"Not so easy with him, is it?" Miyuki scoffed.

"Okay, okay … you were right; Heba has anger management issues. The two teenage parents watched as their boys began chatting to each other in their own little language. Yugi soon pulled away and ran to his mother, who scooped him up in a big hug. Atem did the same with Heba. Atem looked up at Miyuki.

"This experiment failed miserably." Miyuki nodded.

"Agreed." The boys ran into their little playroom together and laughed and giggled. It was official: Heba and Yugi Moto could not function without each other, and their parents found that out the hard way.

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_The End_


End file.
